Brand USA’s newest attraction about America’s biggest attractions, its National Parks. A chat with CMO Tom Garzilli.

Tom Garzilli is Brand USA’s Chief Marketing Officer. I recently had a chance to sit down with Tom for a brief chat at the Toronto premiere of the MacGillivray Freeman Films and Brand USA’s collaboration, America Wild: National Parks Adventure giant screen movie.
Schedule’s being what they are, we spoke before the premiere so I had not seen America Wild yet. I saw the film right after our conversation, and by the way, I highly recommend the movie. It is very well made, entertaining, informative and stimulating. It stimulates us to think about our planet, the care for our environment, the absolute necessity of preserving the National Parks for future generations. And it also stimulates us to travel. Or want to travel. Travel to some, if not all, of these amazing parks. By the way, you don’t have to be an experienced mountaineer like the stars of America Wild, Conrad Anker, Max Lowe and Rachel Pohl to enjoy most of them. Most National Parks have plenty of accesible areas for people who love the outdoors to enjoy in an environmentally responsible manner.
But back to Tom. It was a pleasure talking to him and also meeting Anne, one of his enthusiastic colleagues. Our brief conversation centered around 3 simple questions:
1. How is America Wild: National Parks Adventure doing so far (July 1, 2016)?
America Wild by all measures is doing great. Most showings around the world are very well attended if not sold out. “The film opened in February in about 100 cities around the world. And it has had tremendous response. Everywhere from the Museum of Natural History in New York to theatres here in Canada, everyone is saying they’ve had a lot of sell-outs.” And from a tourism perspective, “over 80% of the people who see the film are more likely to come to the US to want to visit.”
The idea for the film “was a way to support our great outdoors. Our mission is to really be promoting 50 states, 5 territories and Washington, DC to really get people through and beyond the gateways. One of the best ways to do that was to talk about our great outdoors, and that’s a big story… As we started to build the strategy, we were looking for a big idea and a big way to kind of cap it. Thus the film…”
2. Are there any other interesting projects like America Wild that Brand USA may be working on at the moment?
“We will have our next project coming out in February of 2018 around Music, Culture and Cities…the story of the urban centres and the culture that is very global…the best way to tell that story is through music and how regionally music differs in the United States and how it’s informed by the local culture and the world.”

If this next project is anything like America Wild: National Parks Adventure, it will be amazing. Go see America Wild to see what I mean!
3. What are some of the destinations in the United States that may be starting to create a buzz, that may be starting to become top destinations, places that are not as well-known as New York, San Francisco, Orlando, Miami or Las Vegas, or Yosemite National Park for example?
A lot of the smaller cities in America, and there are so many, have started to create their own scene: music, food, culture. “There are a lot of them across the country. It depends on the region you’re visiting. We (Brand USA) have developed an ‘everything within your reach, all within your reach campaign’ to really talk about the gateways and the things that are nearby up to a 5 hour drive.”
AMERICA WILD
Our conversation had to end because it was time to watch America Wild: National Parks Adventure. The film does live up to its marketing. It’s big. And it’s beautiful. And it does make you want to go visit some of these amazing parks.

To learn where America Wild is playing, check the listings here.

Source: canadianandworldtourism.com

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