News Search

Push to The Latest: No
SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Aug. 13, 2014—Organizers of Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) and the Bring a Friend initiative (BAF) are introducing an updated toolkit for industry partners to use this fall and winter, and encouraging greater collaboration across the industry to bolster the recruitment effort. The program aims to increase participation over last year's 100,000 newcomers.

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Aug. 13, 2014—Organizers of Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) and the Bring a Friend initiative (BAF) are introducing an updated toolkit for industry partners to use this fall and winter, and encouraging greater collaboration across the industry to bolster the recruitment effort. The program aims to increase participation over last year's 100,000 newcomers.

There's plenty of incentive to ramp up the effort. LSSM executive director Mary Jo Tarallo points out that, when NSAA introduced the Model for Growth and its predictions for future visits a decade ago, the “do nothing different” option showed visits in 2013-14 at 56.1 million. Last year's actual number: 56.2 million. The industry has taken steps to boost trial, but clearly, needs to do more.

To encourage that, the LSSM/BAF toolkit, developed by nxtConcepts, is divided into eight sections, each aimed at a particular end user: resorts, state associations, retailers, etc. Each section offers suggestions and examples of how to implement the programs (check out Durango Mountain Resort and how it used its website to drive first-time visits), and support material for the full gamut of promotional media, from social to print.

One focus this year: bringing retailers into the effort. The National Snow Sports Retailers Assn. is urging retailers to talk with their local areas and work together. (But resorts needn't wait for them; call your favorite retail partners yourself.) Resorts will remain the primary point of contact for first-timers, of course, but retailers can provide follow-up contact and help keep newcomers engaged.

To better tap the bring-a-friend idea, the BAF Challenge has been simplified: anyone who brings even one newbie can register for a grand prize drawing for an all-expenses-paid trip to one of four resorts. Other improvements include new and improved websites, one for resorts and partners and one for consumers (learntoskiandsnowboard.org).

All that will help put LSSM/BAF back on a growth path. Last year, participation dropped to 100,000, from 150,000 the year before, due to the Far West snow drought and brutal cold across much of snow country. It's time to plan for the worst and hope for the best.