31 MAY 2018: Visitors to the United States may or may not find themselves dancing in the street, but Brand USA believes America’s unique musical stylings can have a pied piper effect to draw them there. The destination marketing organization’s latest initiatives have a distinct cultural flare, as part of a broader philosophy that Brand USA president and CEO Chris Thompson calls “telling our stories.”

Foremost among Brand USA’s storey-telling efforts this summer is the release of the IMAX film America’s Musical Journey, following the immensely successful National Parks Adventure, which debuted in 2016 but is still working its way around the globe. For its part, Journey, narrated by Morgan Freeman, explores iconic music cities such as New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Miami, and Nashville through the prism of made-in-the-USA musical genres jazz, blues, country, rock & roll and soul. The film was recently pre-viewed at Music Week in Toronto, where it will open on June 18, as well as in other international destinations.

“Immersive films have a giant-sized impact on awakening international travellers’ desires to discover new places and travel experiences,” says Thompson. “Both films continue to be tremendous platforms to showcase the USA’s diverse offerings and connect with global audiences in an engaging, entertaining, and inspiring way.”

But Brand USA isn’t limiting its efforts to the big screen. In April, BUSA launched Hear the Music, Experience the USA, an integrated marketing campaign designed to utilize the “power of music” to promote international travel to the US. The unique exploration in sound interprets Bobby Freeman’s iconic song, Do You Wanna Dance? through different musical genres as envisioned by five innovative artists bringing the unique cultural sounds of their cities to life.

To amplify the campaign, which not coincidentally aligns with the US Year of Music campaign in 2018, Brand USA has also partnered with digital music service Spotify to create 22 customized US city soundscape playlists presenting a “dynamic storytelling tool… to inspire, invite, and welcome visitors from all over the world.”

“Music is a universal language that transcends language and cultural boundaries, and Hear the Music, Experience the USA presents an entertaining and highly engaging platform to showcase vibrant destinations across the United States,” says Tom Garzilli, chief marketing officer of Brand USA.

“The artists’ passion for their cities shines through in each rendition (and) we’re hoping their contagious energy connects with culture-seeking tourists across the globe and inspires them to experience the United States in a new way.”

Hear the Music, the Spotify playlists, and more, can be found on Brand USA’s consumer web site www.visittheusa.ca/.

Music is also an integral component of programming on GoUSA TV, a first-of-its-kind connected TV network available on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Soft-launched in February, the entertainment channel delivers on-demand short-, medium- and long-view original video content designed to inspire and invite international travellers to visit the US. Already boasting three million viewers, GoUSA TV viewers can access a wide array of experiences across four different categories, including the Great Outdoors, Road Trips, Food & Drink, and Culture & Events, with shows like “American Sound,” “For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville” and “Turning Tables,” the latter exploring “what happens when food and music come together.”

Citing its various music-based initiatives this year, BUSA boss Thompson vows that the organization will continue to take advantage of technology to promote the US “from mobile to the big screen, and everything in between.”

At the recent IPW trade show in Denver, Thompson invited the DMO’s 800-plus global partners to take advantage of the new music-video based marketing tools (as well as other themes, such as culinary), for market-specific advertising, including via Rogers Media and Flight Network in Canada, a country that stands out as the US’s No. 1 market with more than 20 million visitors.

Thompson revealed that despite overall visitations to the US declining, Canadian numbers are “actually up,” even as the value of the loonie languishes. Even when the dollar is low, Canadians continue to come, he said, adding, “They just change their travel patterns.”

And while he admitted that China remains “the great frontier” for tourism marketers, boasting the largest single outbound source market of travellers in the world, Thompson vowed that Brand USA will “remain faithful” to its top markets – a promise that will clearly be music to the ears of the Canadian travel trade.