Sponsored Brand USA
Launching a musical mission
Brand USA is on a music-driven mission to encourage tourism to America. Peter Ellegard asks vice-president of integrated marketing Tracy Lanza which campaigns are showing success and what initiatives are in the pipeline
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rand USA is on song as it continues expanding its efforts to spread the word about America to the world. Music is a key theme of the destination marketing organisation’s newest marketing strategy, underscored by its second giant- screen movie, America’s Musical Journey, which is now showing at London’s Science Museum after its UK launch at a big travel industry event there in August.
The Imax production, narrated by Hollywood superstar Morgan Freeman, follows musician Aloe Blacc as he travels across America, tracing the music that helped shape its culture. Since its premier in Washington DC in February, it has opened in 10 other countries, Japan and Korea being the most recent prior to its UK debut, and it will be shown in Australia from late November.
Of the rationale behind it, Tracy Lanza, Brand USA vice-president of integrated marketing, explains: “The giant-screen fi lm really sits within our overall storytelling strategy, which we frame as ‘from mobile to giant screen and everything in between’ and this idea of travel entertainment is very important to us. “America’s Musical Journey uses culture as a lens for people to explore all the different things that they can do and what the USA is all about. And music provides an even more purposeful, meaningful and personal lens for people to explore the USA.”
Pioneering musical marketing Drawing on the same theme of using music and culture as a vehicle to inspire travel to America, Brand USA unveiled its “Hear the Music, Experience the USA” integrated marketing campaign in April. It is
50 05.11.2018
A new marketing campaign highlights the musical culture of America’s greatest cities
based around classic song Do You Wanna Dance?, which was originally recorded by Bobby Freeman in 1958 and later covered by artists such as The Beach Boys and The Ramones. “What we have done with Hear the Music, which I’m so proud of and so excited about, is to take one song and record it fi ve different ways
using fi ve different artists working in fi ve different genres from fi ve different cities,” says Lanza. They range from a hip-hop version performed by Cam James in Atlanta to electronic dance music by Bass Physics in Denver, a blues version by Nathan Quick in Houston, soul and R&B by Calma Carmona in Puerto Rico capital San Juan, and rock ‘n’ roll by Reptiliens in Portland, Oregon. All are emerging artists. “It’s a very different experience depending upon the genre and the place, and so you get a real understanding of the diversity of our travel opportunities,” says Lanza. Brand USA has partnered with streaming service Spotify in the campaign, for which it has produced custom playlists highlighting cities across America.
Music is big in Nashville
Lanza says: “Audio is stronger even than video in terms of growth and, working with Spotify, we have created 25 different music playlists that uses the data from listeners in each market to really curate the soundtrack of that city. So what we’re trying to do is give people a personalised experience whereby
Brand USA has partnered with Spotify to create custom playlists
they can hear the sound of Portland or they can hear the sound of Cheyenne, Wyoming. And again it shows the vast difference in the culture of each of our different cities and states.”
Taking a new trail
In addition, expanded 22-minute videos of the fi ve artists singing the song and taking viewers on a personal tour of their cities are
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