The process of developing an identity and marketing plan for a company is no easy task. It involves delving into the very heart and soul of the company and creating an image that has to speak volumes about its inner workings, missions and intentions to its potential clients. Taking this into consideration, how do you create a logo for an entire country? But not just any country, how do you create a logo and marketing strategy for the United States of America? Other countries such as <a href="http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/perus_new_brand.php">Peru</a> and <a href="http://www.visitmexico.com/">Mexico</a> have successfully developed identities giving homage to their centuries old cultures. The United States is a noted melting pot of all cultures. How would you define that?

The Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP) was given this lovely task. Saddled with a not-so-modest marketing budget of up to $200 million* annually, CTP looked to create the first unified marketing strategy aimed to promote tourism in the United States to international vacationers. What they came up with was <a href="http://www.thebrandusa.com/" target="_blank">Brand USA, Inc.</a> with the tagline, “The United States of Awesome Possibilities.”

<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1329" title="Brand USA" src="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/USA_1720_vert_p5-300x157.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="157" />

According to Brand USA’s website, the identity is meant “to capture the American spirit and create a fresh new brand identity that welcomes the world to come experience the boundless possibilities in America.” The marketing campaign includes a consumer website, <a href="http://www.discoveramerica.com/">DiscoverAmerica.com</a>, meant to offer a user-friendly experience of planning and traveling the U.S. It offers general guides for major cities, a deal finder (coming soon), and U.S. travel tips. The campaign, scheduled to launch in the spring of next year, ultimately looks to generate more American jobs through the boost it hopes to gain in international tourism.

*Rest assured taxpayers, no tax dollars were spent to fund the Brand USA. As stated on the website, half of the budget will be funded by private investment and the rest comes from a $14 visitor fee from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) when traveling to the US from countries that do not require a visa.

<strong>Thoughts from the BI Team</strong>

<strong><em>Justin- Art Director</em></strong>

I definitely have mixed feeling about the brand. At first sight, the logo left me unimpressed. It's just a bunch of dots, right? Hasn't this been played out by the telecom industry? However, after I stopped to think about the direction I would have taken, it started to make sense. Even though most people would agree that the logo is generic, doesn't it <em>have</em> to be? Due to the extreme diversity found in our country, this is probably one of the few cases where something as generic as this is actually a good solution. The best solution? Probably not, but with the strong concept, there is a lot of great possibility for the other pieces. I even like the tagline. "The United States of Awesome Possibilities" is the new "The Land of Opportunity". Although new, the tagline feels like it has roots. <strong>+1</strong>.

The website, on the other hand, is undeniably a disaster. Keep in mind that the budget is <em>200 million dollars a year.</em> Aesthetically, it's embarrassing. The <a href="http://www.discoveramerica.com/ca/" target="_blank">landing page</a> looks like a bad knock-off of a <a href="http://livingsocial.com/escapes" target="_blank">flash sale site</a>. The <a href="http://www.discoveramerica.com/ca/home.html" target="_blank">home page</a> is busy. The background photo ends abruptly at the bottom, yet scales to fill the browser window horizontally— a half-assed attempt at a common technique. If <a href="http://ringvemedia.com/" target="_blank">China</a> can do it, we can do it... can't we? It's not like they couldn't afford a decent developer— the <a href="http://b.oss.im//3a/hlhetaxy2ookk.png" target="_blank">border</a> around the content area isn't even aligned properly for crying out loud. Is the strategy to barrage the viewer with photos? They get it, there's a lot of variety, there's no need to let it govern the design. I'll stop there— but really? It's unwelcoming, unprofessional and isn't representative of what we as a country can produce. For <em>200 million dollars a year</em>, I want to see the design equivalent of a 3-D video music montage of me and the Statue of Liberty performing a choreographed dance through the top tourist destinations of America. Instead, we get what looks like an outdated and broken template that they grabbed off the internet for free.

Final thoughts:
Instead of taking the obvious direction using any combination of red/white/blue/stars/stripes/guns, they've come up with a good concept with some great potential. As far execution goes— <a href="http://www.thebrandunion.com/" target="_blank">The Brand Union</a> either completely missed the mark, lost a brutal battle against design-by-committee, or saw this as their chance to fulfill everyone's childhood dream of throwing a <a href="http://www.lindsaybrothers.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/scrooge-mcduck.jpg" target="_blank">Scrooge-McDuck-style pool party</a>.

<em><strong>Leilani- Graphic Designer</strong></em>

My first impressions were, "It looks like a boring corporation." Upon further investigation in the marketing materials beyond the logo my impressions were, "It looks like a semi-boring corporation." The logo feels predictably generic, even in the multiple color variations. The dotted logos have been a trend for several years now and lack longevity. It's already outdated. I commend the CTP for finding a solution without the use of the blaring stars, stripes, and red, white and blue color pallet. The concept behind the logo is quite compelling, however, the execution leaves something to be desired. If their aim was to create a brand to "capture the American spirit" and invite global visitors to "experience the boundless possibilities in America", then America seems like it would bore me to tears and try to sell me insurance or tupperware from a suitcase.

The opening page of the website is interesting in design, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">almost</span> successful with large modern typography and lovely photographs. But this page is unnecessary and makes me work for my information instead of welcoming me with open arms. The overall design would be a good attempt, if you were a first year design student showing interest in the profession of web design 8 years ago. The design tried to be hip and modern, but instead turned out confusing and as outdated as its logo. The photographs are pretty, but you can't rely on a good photograph to carry an entire design. Their solution? Place a ton of large photographs all over the site. The interior page content is dense and made difficult to read through lack of attention to typographic styling (particularly the leading). One of my biggest problems with the site is the language issue. Currently, it can only be viewed in 5 languages. For a marketing strategy that is meant to cover the globe, this seems a bit limiting. For the kind of budget they have, the site should be able to translate into Klingon if one so wishes! I could nitpick this site to death, but the bottom line comes down to one thing, with a budget of $200 million A YEAR, there are no excuses for poor design or lack of options.

<em><strong>Ben- Design Intern/Lackey</strong></em>

Brand USA tells me that part of their astronomical marketing budget for Discover America comes from the nominal $14 fee paid by visitors from visa waiver countries", and that “No U.S. taxpayer dollars” were used.  At the end of the day, at least I didn't pay for it. Who am I kidding, I don't pay taxes.