Brand USA Discovery Program

The mission of Brand USA is to encourage increased international visitation to the United States and to grow America’s share of the global travel market. Brand USA works in close partnership with the travel industry to maximise the economic and social benefits of travel.

The mission of Brand USA is to encourage increased international visitation to the United States and to grow America’s share of the global travel market. Brand USA works in close partnership with the travel industry to maximise the economic and social benefits of travel. With training programmes already existing for many destinations within the USA, such as California or New York, Black Diamond saw the opportunity for a unified platform highlighting the diversity of the USA.

Research Black Diamond surveyed 300 travel agents, asking how they learned about destinations, what other training programmes were used, positives and negatives of existing programmes. The results showed that there was a need for a new type of training, with a fresh approach for the industry. As well a general need for a modern web app in terms of technology and design, it was also felt that content and quizzing could be improved upon. There was also a feeling that in an age of social media, peer to peer learning would be relevant. Black Diamond's competitor analysis was inline with the survey's findings, where no existing training programmes of such quality existed. Information Architecture, Training Mechanisms, Wireframing With the reading and quizzing of content being at the core of the concept, a large amount of time was spent exploring and developing the different training mechanisms to give an agent the best experience on the training program. This involved concepts such as: • Earning rewards such as virtual badges for passing modules • Having multiple quizzes per module, with the user taking small steps towards a goal rather than "one final exam" • Having a strong relationship in the design between the content and the related quizzes • Learning about the USA by experience as well as location These mechanisms were successfully developed through wireframes, user testing, detailed site maps, and further iterations after the launch of the site. Build/Testing The USA Discovery Program is built with a comprehensive, bespoke back end system. The administration section of the website includes detailed reporting as well as a powerful content management system where new modules can be added easily. An API was developed to allow third parties to communicate with the site when needed. The site was tested to work on a range of devices from tablets to desktops. As a trade facing website, it was important that the site worked well with older browsers, as many offices have older software than the average home user.

Results and Outcomes The training website was initially launched in the UK & Ireland in June 2013. So far it has 8000+ members signed up and actively using the site. The site is currently being rolled out globally and has unique URLs for India, Australia and New Zealand. Other country specific sites are in development stage for Brazil, China and Canada. In 2014 the USA Discovery Program won the TTG Travel Award for best training programme. Brand USA's partners are also becoming part of the program with bespoke buy-in packages having been created specifically for their needs. The USA Discovery Program recognised as an industry leader in online training in the travel industry.