The International Coalition of Tourism Partners announced today that Futureshift, a New York-based marketing consulting firm, has joined the coalition as a new member.

Futureshift specialises in market intelligence, strategic planning, and building digital communities. Its focus is on product and destination branding with emphasis on sustainability and green initiatives. Futureshift’s experience includes development and management of the strategic marketing plan for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the Chilean Image Campaign, and many food, wine, and tourism campaigns for countries around the world. Many of its clients include wine, food, and tourism together, and its current client roster includes the wine region of Rioja, Spain, Wines of Greece, and the Maine Lobster industry.

“We see ICTP as an organisation that can both bring focus to sustainability issues for destinations and be an advocate of best practices for the travel and tourism industries. We look forward to being a part of the organisation’s growth and a participant in its programs. As an indication of our interest, we would like to offer ICTP member firms a 20% discount off of all our consulting and database services for all projects initiated before June 31, 2013.”

Futureshift has developed its own proprietary software, DirectLink™, which enables it to ask open-ended questions of large databases, provide real-time analysis tools, instant segmentation and direct email access to people who fall in specific segments. This enables its clients to target market their customers based on their expressed needs and perceptions. It’s a tool that doesn’t exist elsewhere due to the complexities of contextual search and analysis. Clients who use DirectLink™ become smarter, faster, and build better relationships with their customers.

“That Futureshift comes on board as a new member and immediately offers all ICTP members a discount off their services is a great value. Futureshift is a leader in product and destination branding, and the fact that they work with an emphasis on sustainability and green initiatives, fits right in with the efforts of ICTP,” said Juergen T. Steinmetz, Chairman of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners.

The firm’s founder, Jon Stamell, has 25+ years of experience in market research, strategic planning and marketing, including international consulting, expansion and acquisitions, brand management, image enhancement, ecommerce and multi-media. He formerly was CEO of the largest marketing communications firm in Northern New England and Chairman of Communitas Online, a market research company. He has spoken on destination branding at conferences around the world and has been profiled by CNN-TV and CNBC-TV. Jon is author of “Celebrate Your Mistakes (Irwin Publ., 1998) and FutureShift 2010, a study of U.S. consumer behavior for the Chilean Foreign Ministry. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan, did graduate work at Harvard University, and received an M.B.A. from the University of Maine. On the side, Mr. Stamell is a published cartoonist and his cartoons, taking a satirical look at business and technology, can be found on the Internet and in various publications.