(Here is a reprint from Event Marketer of a good overview of how national brands are having successful promotions at ski resorts.)
This winter when the temperature dropped and the chilly weather set in a broad mix of brands snuggled up around the nation’s top ski mountains attracted by the largely upscale demographic of ski enthusiasts and the myriad options for activation.
Sponsorships of ski teams and pro skiing competitions are old hat. But the newest crop of brands entering such hotspots (or coldspots as it were) as Tahoe Jackson Hole and Snowmass are bypassing traditional sponsorships and either hooking up with the mountain operators and nearby resorts or going it alone with their own on-mountain proprietary events.
Masterfoods USA samples Snickers at lift ticket windows. SoBe Beverages wraps boarders in its brand with a SoBe superpipe area at Okemo Mountain in Ludlow VT. Chevrolet parks its mobile tour setup featuring vehicle displays at the bottom of a slew of ski runs such as Park City Mountain. American Express has a namesake main lift at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. Indeed marketers looking to create all-season event portfolios are heading into (and onto) the nation’s ski mountains with slope-side and off-piste activities to connect with consumers.
Take a run at Killington or Aspen or Squaw Valley and you’ll walk away with a new perspective on wintertime event marketing. “[Brand managers] have started to realize that the crowd that skis is a super-affluent very passionate very loyal group of people and the cost of entry [for events] is not prohibitive ” says Jamie Pentz group publisher at Mountain Sports Media which owns Skiand Skiing magazines.
And it’s not just the usual suspects. Brands like Frosted Flakes and Red Bull are now alongside endemics such as Burton Snowboards and Salomon. As part of its American Skiing Company partnership Anheuser-Busch hosts the Bud Light Cowboy Downhill at Steamboat a skiing competition featuring past and present rodeo champions. The daylong event features an afternoon celebration at a resort restaurant and a learn-to-rope clinic before the big event. The brewer also leverages via Bud Light Concerts at several resorts. Shows feature national and local bands.
“Skiing and snowboarding have been a great complement to our marketing efforts ” says Tim Schoen the brand’s vp-sports and entertainment marketing. “It gives us a lifestyle image as well.”
Double Diamond
Volvo Cars of North America activates its Vail Resorts partnership in a variety of ways. The anchor of the campaign is a loaner program that offers resort guests free Volvos to take out for a spin. “They can do anything from run out and have dinner to go on a mountain drive ” says Jay Hamill Volvo’s manager-consumer marketing. “We have a follow-up mechanism in place in case they want a dealer contact or a brochure or if they want to just be put on the email list.”
Volvo stretches the equity through the venue with a variety of exhibits including vehicle cutaways positioned at the top of the main gondola run.
Other brands skip the partnerships and go it alone setting up their own real estate on site. Jeep’s 11-year-old Jeep King of the Mountain pro skiing and snowboarding competition stops at four different resorts—this year’s competition has already hit Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado Sunshine Village Resort in Banff Alberta and Sunday River Ski Resort in Bethel ME and will wrap at Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California later this month.
At the events racers hit the slopes coming out of a gate designed to look like the grille of a Jeep and vehicles are displayed throughout the venue even on the course. Other sponsors—including Edge Advanced shave gel John Paul Mitchell Systems and Sirius Satellite Radio—have a presence at an expo village. Jeep bolstered the KOTM program this winter by adding the Jeep Terrain Park Challenge a series of six regional qualifier races for amateur skiers and snowboarders. The JTPC finals will be held at the King of the Mountain championship event. “Snowboarding skiing and downhill skiing all fit the brand ” says Lou Bitonti senior manager-advertising and events at Jeep. “If you go to any parking lot at any ski resort in the country you’re going to see the Jeeps.”
PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew also is in on the action with its own ski and snowboard races hitting more than 50 resorts across the country. Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes piggybacks the Sports Illustrated for Kids Next Snow Search in which young skiers and snowboarders compete on ability style attitude and personality. The series takes place at slopes nationwide; the $10 admission fee includes the wrap-up ice cream social.
Some leverage it all right on the slopes; others use promotions. Charles Schwab for instance is trading free ski lessons lift tickets and vacations in exchange for new accounts with at least $100 000 in deposits. New customers self-activate at the resorts of their choice. “We found that investors respond more to the promotions that gave them access to facilities nearer their homes ” says Derek Benbow Schwab’s director-corporate sponsorships.
Despite the spiking interest in ski-related event campaigns some of the biggest venues remain flexible in how they package up their assets. American Skiing Company has three- to five-year agreements. And although most partners have a presence at all seven of the company’s resorts a few are only at one or two says Dana Bullen ASC’s vp-partnership marketing.
Opportunities stemming from deals with the resort operators can include in-room marketing and sampling on the slopes. L.L. Bean for example provides uniforms for the 16 000 employees of ASC.
