Discover Wyoming in Winter, United Stories
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 24, 2021)—Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, was awarded an Adrian Award from the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) at the 64th HSMAI Adrian Awards virtual award ceremony on March 23, 2021. The video Discover Wyoming in Winter from United Stories won a Gold Award in the category of “Digital Single Item – Video.”
United Stories—a Visit The USA consumer marketing campaign launched in early 2019—highlights local and authentic travel experiences throughout the United States with the idea of inspiring travelers from around the world to visit these destinations. Given that international travelers are not as familiar with Wyoming as they are other states, the goal was to position the state as a destination worth visiting at any time of the year, even winter. Recognized for excellence in digital and integrated marketing, the video Discover Wyoming in Winter features influencer Catarina Mello (@professionaltraveler) a native of Brazil—known for her travels to tropical, warm-weather destinations—stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something new, a trip to Wyoming in the cold month of February. The video—available on Brand USA’s free streaming network, GoUSA TV, and the GoUSA TV YouTube channel—yielded some of the channel’s best paid media performance on YouTube, with an overall pre-roll view through rate across four international markets of 62 percent.
“Our mission is to promote the entirety of the United States to inspire international travelers in the most creative ways possible,” said Tom Garzilli, chief marketing officer at Brand USA. “Through our storytelling campaign United Stories, we are able to promote global visitation to the United States, focusing more on international travelers sharing their experiences about the transformative places they have visited in the USA. We are honored to be recognized by the HSMAI for our continuous efforts to support the travel industry’s recovery.”
Last year, Brand USA was recognized by the HSMAI at the 63rd HSMAI Adrian Awards dinner in New York City for its best-in-class marketing campaigns and platforms with eight Adrian Awards, including six gold and two silver awards. In addition, Brand USA’s chief marketing officer Tom Garzilli, was named as one of HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization.
The focus of the 2020 HSMAI Adrian Awards is on Best Practices, Innovation and Community in categories related to work done in response to the coronavirus crisis. This year, HSMAI has redesigned the Adrian Awards to reflect the current travel landscape, honoring those who are contributing to the travel industry’s recovery.
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About Brand USA
Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, was established by the Travel Promotion Act as the nation’s first public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier travel destination and to communicate U.S. travel policies and procedures to worldwide travelers. The organization’s mission is to increase international visitation to the USA in order to fuel the U.S. economy and enhance the image of the United States worldwide. Formed as the Corporation for Travel Promotion in 2010, the public-private entity began operations in May 2011 and does business as Brand USA. According to studies by Oxford Economics, over the past eight years Brand USA’s marketing initiatives have helped welcome 7.6 million incremental visitors to the United States, benefiting the U.S. economy with more than $55.7 billion in total economic impact and supporting, on average, more than 45,000 incremental jobs a year.
To discover more about the USA and the boundless diversity of American travel experiences and authentic, rich culture, please visit Brand USA’s consumer website VisitTheUSA.com and follow Visit The USA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
About HSMAI
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is committed to growing business for hotels and their partners and is the industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals and their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue through programs such as the Adrian Awards, HSMAI ROC, Marketing Strategy Conference, and Sales Leader Forum. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is a membership organization comprising more than 5,000 members worldwide, with 40 chapters in the Americas Region. Connect with HSMAI at hsmai.org, HSMAI Facebook, HSMAI Twitter, HSMAI YouTube, and HSMAI Instagram.