Agency Sees 10th Anniversary of its Creation as an Opportunity to Inform, Reach Out: Delegates to this year’s 52nd annual IPW in Las Vegas will have something unique to celebrate. As Christopher Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, noted at the organization’s board meeting last week in Washington, D.C., this year marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of Brand USA—it is still known legally as the Corporation for Travel Promotion—which was created on March 4, 2010 when President Barack Obama signed into law the legislation that created the public-private sector agency.
President Barack Obama Signs Legislation Creating Brand USA
While the rest of last week’s board meeting was heavy on details of Brand USA’s myriad activities in promotions, public relations and partnership building—as well as a discussion of what the organization is doing to respond to the coronavirus crisis—there was an acknowledgement that there should be an observance of the anniversary. There were occasions, after all, during the past decade, when it appeared that Brand USA might not survive attempts by some legislators to let its authorization lapse, allowing it to “sunset.”
However, since Congress approved and President Donald Trump signed into law a six-year reauthorization of the agency last December, Brand USA now faces a future in which it will be better able to think long-term, which it really hasn’t had the opportunity to do since it was created.
Thompson explained how the anniversary—on March 4th and during IPW—will provide it with an occasion that will allow it to explain its history, the growth of its portfolio of programs and its long-term strategic vision.
In order to help it do so, he said, Tracy Lanza, vice president of integrated marketing for Brand USA, had reached out to its “corral of content creators” for proposals on communicating the meaning of the agency and its anniversary. It is expected that a selection from among the three proposal finalists would be made sometime this week.
Note: In his presentation, Aaron Wodin-Schwartz, senior vice president of communications, public policy and public affairs showed a graphic illustrating the up-to-the-minute status of the coronavirus crisis, and what Brand USA has done in response, while reminding everyone that the situation it is changes “every few hours.”
