Brand USA has revealed details of its MegaFam 2023, with 50 lucky Australian and New Zealand travel advisors set to experience the best the US has to offer.
Sitting down for an exclusive interview with Karryon, Brand USA Senior Vice President of Integrated Marketing Staci Mellman confirms this year’s MegaFam will comprise five separate trips to different parts of the US: California, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Mid-West.
Each famil will hit multiple states, with ten travel advisors per trip.
Mellman says Hawaiian Airlines (HA) will be the MegaFam airline sponsor. So at the end of the famil, guests will travel to Honolulu to connect and share their experiences from each trip.
“There is no better way to learn about the US than actually experiencing it for yourself,” Mellman tells Karryon.
Travel agents will need to register their interest and complete qualification criteria to be in the running to win a spot on one of the famils.
Registrations are now open and will run until the end of April, with the winning agents to be advised in early May.
And the MegaFam themes are…
According to Mellman, the MegaFam will be themed around the great outdoors and sports, with each trip including elements of both themes.
Great outdoors experiences will include visits to some of the States’ “unique” landscapes within its National and State Parks as well as other green spaces.
“And by sports, we don’t just mean going to watch a game,” Mellman says, explaining it could “also be engaging in sports like bike riding, hiking” and other adventure activities.
Brand USA will release the exact itineraries closer to the departure dates.
The two themes should appeal to Aussie agents.
“They [Australians] are very outdoorsy people … very active and that’s what we want to focus on – that even in a city you can still find that great outdoor space,” Florida-based Mellman says.
To win a spot on the famil, agents need to register their interest in participating in the MegaFam online, tell Brand USA why they want a place on the MegaFam in 56 words or less (one word for each of the 50 states, 5 territories and District of Columbia), sign up to Hawaiian Miles and sell a minimum of four HA return tickets ex-Sydney or Auckland to the USA.
Agents will also need to complete the following badges on the USA Discovery Program: The Great Outdoors, Winter Sports, and the soon-to-be-released badge, MegaFam 2023 – Hawaiian Airlines.
But wait, there’s more for the trade
Broadly speaking, Mellman says Brand USA would be “investing a lot of energy into the travel trade”.
“I understand that in this market there are both really experienced travel agents and then a new surge of up-and-coming travel agents who are new to the profession,” she explains.
“So we have the USA Discovery Program, which gives travel agents the opportunity to have an in-depth educational experience to understand everything about the United States.
“We’ll also have two incentive programs running throughout the year, as well as an exclusive Lunch and Learn”, events Mellman says will bring in Brand USA’s American partners “so they can focus a little bit more on Florida or the Northeast” and other regions.
“We really work with our partners to make sure they have that exposure … nationwide.”
Brand USA will also be launching trade marketing programs with Luxury Escapes, “which will be more of an always-on focus program that will have product development to cities around the US, as well as a program with Travel Junction, where we’ll focus on building out those incredible road trip itineraries from our Brand USA insider guides … and developing products specifically for the Australian market around those road trip itineraries.”
“I mean, there’s nothing like the great open road right?” Mellman says.
And nowhere like the USA.
Australian agents can register for the MegaFam at www.usadiscoveryprogram.com.au
New Zealand agents can register at www.usadiscoveryprogram.co.nz
