Brand USA appoints Black Diamond as its first-ever travel trade and public relations representative agency in the UK and Ireland
Brand USA has appointed London-based PR and travel trade representation agency Black Diamond to act as its agency of record in the UK and Ireland. This will be the first time that the USA has actively marketed itself to international visitors. The effort was initiated with the United States passing of the Travel Promotion Act on March 4, 2010. On Jan. 19, 2012, President Barack Obama signed an executive order reinforcing his commitment to promote the United States as an international travel destiation in order to support the economy and jobs creation.
Black Diamond will position the USA as a premier travel and tourism destination in order to expand America’s share of the global travel market among travelers in the UK and Ireland. A comprehensive programme of activities will be designed to encourage and inspire travellers to explore America’s boundless leisure possibilities. Black Diamond will be working alongside Brand USA’s global advertising agency of record JWT, based in New York, which operates in 200 offices across 90 countries.
“The UK and Ireland represent the largest overseas travel market to the United States—with nearly 4 million travelers from these countries visiting America last year,“ says James Evans, president and CEO of Brand USA. “We look forward to working with Black Diamond to help us market the US as a premier travel destination and provide international travelers an extraordinary American travel experience. We are confident that Black Diamond’s combined experitise in the travel industry and marketing will help us reach and welcome even more visitors from the UK and Ireland in the years to come.“
Guy Chambers, managing director of Black Diamond says, “We are excited and honoured to be part of something that is ultimately going to transform the global tourism landscape. The USA is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and competition for the representation contract in the UK was extremely fierce. We’re therefore naturally very proud that we have won this account. By coupling our in-house expertise with the marketing initiatives that Brand USA will be undertaking we’re confident that we will be able to increase visitation to the USA from the UK and Ireland.”
Brand USA is a public-private partnership established by the United States Congress under the Travel Promotion Act and is partially funded by the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) implemented in 2008 as part of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The ESTA and VWP programmes are designed to make travel easier for nationals from 36 countries currently approved under the VWP. Travelers with an approved ESTA may make multiple entries into the United States for a period of up to two years or until the passport expires.
Black Diamond is a full service agency offering clients PR, marketing, advertising and travel trade representation alongside its talent management and TV divisions. Existing clients include Visit California, Pebble Beach Company, San Francisco Travel Association and Aspen Snowmass.
Media Contacts:
Black Diamond
Maddy Morgan – PR Director, Black Diamond
020 7257 6183 / maddy@blackdiamond.co.uk
Brand USA
Anne Madison – Chief Communications Officer, Brand USA
00-1-301-385-8296 / amadison@thebrandusa.com
Notes to Editors:
About Black Diamond
Black Diamond is a TV, Content and Marketing agency specialising in tourism and action sports; areas we love and understand. Now 20 years old Black Diamond started distributing extreme sports videos and has grown and developed into a full service creative and production house working with some of the world’s biggest brands, destinations, TV networks and agencies. www.blackdiamond.co.uk
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About Brand USA
Brand USA is the nation’s destination marketing organization, dedicated to attracting legitimate international inbound travel to strengthen the U.S. economy, increase exports, create quality jobs, and promote community prosperity. By running data-driven campaigns and unifying messaging across industry and government, Brand USA positions the United States as a top global destination while providing current visa and entry information.
Since 2012 Brand USA, in collaboration with travel industry partners, has been responsible for attracting an additional 10.3 million visitors who spent nearly $35 billion in the United States, generating $76 billion in economic output, and sustaining nearly 40,000 jobs per year. Without any cost to taxpayers, these efforts have generated $10 billion in tax receipts and returned $20 to the U.S. economy for every dollar spent.