Brand USA
Inspiring destination marketers to become better storytellers
Creative Direction – Content Strategy
Brand USA is the organization responsible for marketing the United States as a premier travel destination, partnering with state, city, and regional destination organizations in the US to create programs that help drive tourism.
They produce content that’s beloved by people around the world and are well known for pushing the boundaries of creative storytelling, which includes everything from social content to giant screen IMAX documentaries.
They needed an industry message to match the forward-thinking stance on content creation and inspire destination marketers to become world-class storytellers.
Industry
Tourism, Marketing
Elements
Digital Experience, Infographic, Industry Survey, Conference Panel
My Role
Concept, research design, content and creative direction, event programming and moderation
Destination Storytelling 2020
SkiftX created Destination Storytelling 2020: A Guide to Telling Great Stories, a custom microsite with dynamic data visualizations and case studies from the top leading destination marketers. Our findings derived from a comprehensive industry survey (served to 400+ destination marketers and content creators) on storytelling strategy, campaign goals and success, content distribution, and what’s top of mind for 2020.
To balance the data with professional insights about the creative process, we interviewed seven destination leaders responsible for the best content marketing in 2019 including Tourism Australia, Faroe Islands, Destination DC, Newfoundland & Labrador, Travel Oregon, Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Bureau, and Brand USA.
Destination Storytelling 2020
Great stories move us.
They have the power to tap into our emotions and inspire a sense of wanderlust. Stories have the potential to take us from the glow of our various screens to places across the world. But what makes a story great? And how can Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) tell stories that move people?
SkiftX and Brand USA surveyed over 400 storytellers and creators, and interviewed numerous industry leaders to discover how destinations are using storytelling to inspire travel. We asked them about strategy, campaign goals, content distribution, and what’s top of mind for 2020.
“While it’s fantastical and very fairytale-like, it still feels genuine to the experience you’d have in Oregon”
– Linea Gagliano
Director of Global Communications, Travel Oregon
“Tourism marketing tends to have a sameness to it. We knew that we needed to leverage creativity.”
– Susan Coghill,
Chief Marketing Officer, Tourism Australia
“Many of the stories that exist in this province aren’t written down in any kind of book. They exist in the minds and memories of the people that live here.”
— Dave Sullivan,
Group Creative Head, Target Marketing
Newfoundland & Labrador
Let’s do it live
We brought this campaign to life at Skift Global Forum 2019, the industry’s largest creative business conference, where I moderated an executive panel discussion on How Great Stories Inspire Travel with creative leaders from BrandUSA, Travel Oregon and Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Credits
Concept and Direction | Matt Heidkamp
Creative | Dawn Rzeznikiewicz
Design Lead | Andrea Yang-Yanez
Design | Joanna Gonzalez
Dev | Minhee Park
Account | Deb Knudsen