The campaign, one of the Guardian’s largest brand partnerships to date, will run for six months and consist of a monthly series of real-time and crowdsourced road trips, which will cover the length and breadth of the USA to take readers into the heart of America, and will be featured on the Guardian online and in print.
Commissioned, designed and edited by the Guardian’s editorial Travel team, the road trips will be an integral part of the Guardian’s Travel offering for Spring and Summer 2013.
The first road trip will commence on Monday 29 April when Guardian US reporter Adam Gabbatt will travel from Jacksonville to Keywest - a distance of 500 miles - liveblogging his journey as he is guided by tweets from the Guardian’s US audience and local bloggers who will share their recommendations to showcase the best places that the US has to offer.
Future road trips will cover the Pacific coast, Austin to Albuquerque, Las Vegas to Denver, Chicago to Nashville and Baltimore to Bangor.
The campaign will be supported by monthly print supplements to be distributed with the Guardian’s weekly Travel section and following the themes focusing on Music, Arts and Culture, American History, Theme Parks and Americana, Big Sky Country and Food, alongside short films, crowdsourced Spotify playlists, advertorials and promotion across all Guardian platforms.
Readers will also be encouraged to submit their own stories of a USA journey by sending in their tips, photos and videos via the Guardian’s new user-generated content platform, GuardianWitness.
David Pemsel, Chief Commercial Officer, Guardian News & Media, said: “For years our editorial team have pioneered the concept of ‘TwiTrips’, which have proved to be extremely popular with our audiences. To be able to adapt this concept for a commercial partner - whilst simultaneously activating our network of global readers in line with our open strategy - is hugely exciting, and I can’t wait to see the content that is produced as our readers help to navigate us around this huge and diverse nation.”
Chris Thompson, President & CEO, Brand USA, said: “The main objectives of Brand USA are to rekindle the holidaymakers’ love affair with America and to reclaim the USA’s share of the market, positioning it as a diverse destination still to be explored. By working in partnership with The Guardian we aim to highlight the country as a fresh and unexpected destination, with welcoming and friendly locals and to inspire the consumer to make the USA their next holiday. Over the next six months this campaign will highlight travel to and within the USA via a number of different channels, giving social network users the chance to get involved. We want to invite Guardian readers to discover the limitless possibilities the United States has to offer.”
