As CEO of Brand USA, Jim Evans is responsible for spearheading the country's first comprehensive destination-marketing campaign. Brand USA launched its initial $12 million campaign and presented its strategy at the U.S. Travel Association's International Pow Wow in Los Angeles last week. Evans brings more than three decades of hospitality experience to the job, having served as CEO of Best Western International and senior vice president of operations at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts. He spoke with hotels editor Danny King about Brand USA's efforts to lure back international travelers dissuaded by the more restrictive security measures that followed 9/11.
Q: How's the response been to the Brand USA campaign?
A: I've never in my life launched something that's been received as well as this. I've had 25 people come up to me and say, "I had tears in my eyes." It's been a long time coming. I really believe at a minimum that we're going to unite this industry in a way that we've never done before.
Q: What took so long?
A: President Clinton had a conference about the economic impact of tourism and asked what could be done to market America, but I was with Hyatt at the time and wasn't involved. But five or six years ago, people started getting very focused on the idea of marketing America, and U.S. Travel took the lead under Roger Dow's guidance and crafted the Travel Promotion Act [in 2009] and sold it to the right folks.
Q: Brand USA executives have said that overseas travelers have certain misconceptions about the U.S. What are they?
A: People watch our movies and our television shows, or they've been to New York once or twice on a business trip. So they believe they have substantial knowledge of the United States of America, and they really don't. So we wanted to make sure we're marketing the entirety of the country, things like the national parks and some of the smaller states. So in our campaign, you don't see the icons of America. You see bayous and national parks. When we show New York, we're in Brooklyn. In San Francisco, it's the beaches, not the Golden Gate Bridge. We create that curiosity. We want to make sure we market the off-the-beaten-track locations.
Q: How has working at both upscale hotel companies like Hyatt and midscale operations like Best Western prepared you for this job?
A: My time at Hyatt helped me understand the luxury market and tourism at the upper end and with major cities and major resorts. And Best Westerns are everywhere. I worked with owners in towns similar to where I grew up in Illinois. Through that experience, I really got a chance to understand how to market in smaller and tertiary markets.
Q: Brand USA is a public-private partnership, so how has fundraising gone?
A: We got $12.3 million for the premarket launch. We're required by statute to raise $10 million in cash and $40 million in in-kind donations this year. We're above the $10 million mark either in committed funds or in the pipeline. We have a lot of work to do in the in-kind area, but Pow Wow has given us a major shot in the arm with partner creation.
Q: I understand that Brand USA tried to get permission from the Woody Guthrie estate to use "This Land Is Your Land" for the campaign's theme song. What happened?
A: We did approach the family, but I can't speak about specifics. But we ended up in a really great place with Rosanne [Cash] and couldn't be happier with that anthem. She knocked it out of the park.
Follow Danny King on Twitter @dktravelweekly.