Exclusive: Brand USA Names Indie Agency R&R Its New Media Agency of Record

Brand USA, a large tourism brand, awarded its media business to the independent media agency R&R on Dec. 15, following a review that formally began with an RFP issued Sept. 8. The business moved out of GroupM’s EssenceMediacom, and with the transition complete, R&R is now managing media strategy, planning and buying for the brand.

It’s designing full-funnel campaigns with international scope, aiming to increase international tourism in the U.S. Brand USA conducted the review internally, without tapping a pitch consultant for the project. Brand USA declined to name other agencies it invited to the pitch.

As part of the Worldwide Partners independent agency network, R&R is collaborating with three other network agencies—Ardmore, Hylink and Propeg—respectively located in the United Kingdom, China and Brazil. This partnership is the most extensive collaboration Worldwide Partners has ever executed.

“Clients are believing in independent agencies’ ability—not just to deliver—but to deliver at scale,” Worldwide Partners’ CEO, John Harris, told Adweek. 

Brand USA reviews its partnerships every three to five years, and that pre-determined timeline catalyzed the review. EssenceMediacom declined to comment on the news, although a source familiar with the review confirmed it did not defend the business when invited. The source did not specify why, although Brand USA is now doubling down on its marketing initiatives after a period of relatively little spend when the pandemic halted international tourism. Several GroupM clients launched reviews recently, including General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Uber and most recently, Shell.

“From a marketing perspective, we started out the year really making sure that the U.S. was top of mind as people from international countries are thinking about resuming their travel back to, hopefully, the United States, but really just more long-haul destinations outside of their specific countries,” said Staci Mellman, senior vice president of integrated marketing at Brand USA.

‘A pent up demand for travel’

Brand USA’s typical annual marketing budget fluctuates from $100 to $125 million, though it declined to specify how much of the budget it allocates specifically to media investments. R&R began partnering with Brand USA in 2012, and was one of the brand’s earliest partners following its operational launch in 2011.

R&R is a specialty agency with expertise supporting hospitality clients. Its roster includes Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Discover Puerto Rico, Boeing, Allegiant Air, and Hyatt.

“One of the great things about partnering with R&R has been their knowledge around the travel destination journey,” Mellman said. With a better understanding of their customer’s journey, the brand is creating customized creative for each journey stage. Since Brand USA wants to reach a global audience, it’s worked with R&R to narrow its focus down to five target customer personas.

Brand USA’s funding comes from state tourism offices and travel brands, plus matching funds from ESTA fees paid by Visa Waiver Program travelers.

Worldwide Partners was an attractive option because of its hospitality expertise, and particularly its prior experience with “appropriate stewardship of public funds and public-private partnerships,” Mellman told Adweek. The CMO was searching for a partner that was both agile and scalable, and told Adweek an independent agency network wound up being ideal.

“We really wanted to build an integrated agency team model that had really great expertise, brought to the table by all of those agency partners,” she said.

The ‘reverse holding company’ model

The agencies within Harris’ network are never competing for business, nor faced with external pressures like stock performance. “We’re set up as a reverse holding company,” Harris told Adweek. The major holding companies are listed on stock exchanges, making them accountable to shareholders, and historically stoking competition between sister agencies invested in a bottom line.

“Our agencies have all opted in to say ‘We want to be a part of this,’ and leverage a group of peers who share similar values, an entrepreneurial spirit and who have one agenda, which is [that] we’re going to deliver for clients,” Harris said.

R&R’s network relationships—particularly with agency partners abroad—were crucial to winning the business. Brand USA wanted global reach, but valued working with agency partners embedded in specific geographies. The service model lets Brand USA tap into Worldwide Partners’ subsidiary agencies and their hyper-local knowledge. It increased chances that audiences receive nuanced messaging despite the language and cultural barriers that often stoke misunderstandings and can cause international campaigns to fall flat.

Getting started

“We felt coming out of the pandemic that there was a pent up demand for travel … That there was a need to really double down,” said R&R president Fletcher Whitwell. That possibility excited the R&R team that pitched the account. During the pitch, the agency focused on developing a plan that it could execute fast. “We put forward a plan as if they could take it to market the next week, and I think that they appreciated us really putting our experience to bear for them,” Whitwell added.

In April, the partners kicked off a major campaign called “This Is Where It’s At.” By May 31, that campaign generated almost 2 billion impressions and 317 million completed views for Brand USA. The video campaign’s cost per completed view is besting goals by 400%, R&R told Adweek. 

With the tagline, Mellman aims to “create a sense of urgency” for travelers. The partners’ full-funnel strategy includes an emphasis on branding and messaging, an education and information layer, and performance marketing to convert customers and travelers who are ready to book an experience.

“You never know how things will go when you enter into a new agency relationship,” Mellman said. “Our partnership with R&R is exactly what I was hoping for.”