There's a new sheriff in Showville, and he wants to reshape the place. Raccoon Media Group has brought its entertainment-oriented consumer show format to Boston and is doubling down on the concept, pioneered in its National Snow Show in the U.K. The company has been pleased with the reception it has had in Boston with Snowbound, its new show, in the past two years, and hopes to build on that success.

Of course, Snowbound is not the only consumer show in the U.S. In L.A., Ski Dazzle marked its 60th year in 2023 and continues to draw huge crowds in early December, and Portland's Snowvana has been serving the Portland, Ore., area for several seasons. It saw attendance rise 22 percent, to 13,000 last fall, and expects a new location in 2024 will further boost visitation. Snowvana also plans to expand to Seattle next fall. With these and others reportedly thriving, consumer shows appear to be alive and well.

Still, Snowbound offers a bit of a new take on the consumer show concept. "Snowbound is a geo clone, virtually a carbon copy of what we do in the U.K.," said Stephen Morgan, managing director/active division of Raccoon Media Group. "We focus very much on a start-of-season premium, bringing the community together and the experience of a large-scale consumer event." Its lineup of speakers includes some of the better-known skiers and riders—and industry leaders and media—in the country.

That's a change from the sale-and-show format that former Boston show producer BEWI (and some other show producers in the U.S.) have followed, and Racoon was aware of that.

"The BEWI event worked," Morgan said. "People got a great promotion on last year's gear and went home. BEWI served that market for what they wanted to do." In contrast, he added, "We wanted to make it something where people come to get amped, stoked, inspired, and motivated to actually go back out onto the mountains."

While that contrast might be an exaggeration—the BEWI expos included a fair share of entertainment, too, and Snowbound includes a sale component—the new show emphasizes the entertainment and social aspects more, and downplays the sales aspect.

A New Kind of Consumer Show

The Snowbound experience emphasizes entertainment and socializing. It aims to entice its audience by recreating the energy and excitement of skiing, riding, and après for showgoers. "We want them to tune into Bodie Miller or Chris Davenport, or Shawn White or Kelly Clark. Our lineup of speakers aims to keep attendees in the halls and engaging with our exhibitors for as long as possible.

"The snowsports industry is super social; everyone loves to have a few beers, connect with mates, talk about the season, talk about what they're looking forward to. That whole social side is very important to us.

"We set up the expos so that people will be able to spend the whole day there. We don't want people running in, grabbing a deal, and running out," Morgan said.

This format is also aimed at bringing in newcomers to skiing and riding. "We have a huge focus at pretty much every single one of our events to encourage new entrants. Part of our key remit is to help grow those industries," he added.

In its two years, Snowbound has shown promise. It attracted more than 19,000 visitors in year one, and more than 21,000 in year two. Morgan hopes to get attendance up to 25,000 or more. (For comparison, the BEWI shows drew as many as 35,000.)

Some might question the wisdom of cloning the U.K. event, given the differences between the U.K. and U.S. markets, and the success achieved by the sale-and-show format followed by BEWI Productions for its Boston and Denver shows. (BEWI, of course, sold its Boston show to Snowsports Industries America, or SIA, in the fall of 2019. In the wake of the pandemic, SIA then turned to Raccoon to stage the new Snowbound.) 

For its part, Raccoon has no doubts, its confidence bolstered by experience. Morgan, who joined  Raccoon in 2020, had previously run the annual London Ski and Snowboard Festival for the Telegraph Media Group for several years. When Telegraph shut down all its live consumer events just prior to the onset of the pandemic, Morgan put together a plan for his own National Snow Show. He took the idea to Raccoon, which had been producing a range of shows of its own, and they launched the London show in October 2021. When SIA saw that Raccoon was producing a show much like the association wanted to do, it partnered with Raccoon to produce Snowbound.

Cranking Up the Growth Engine

The focus on bringing in newcomers represents an important shift, for both the show and the industry as a whole. Growing the sport has received less attention in the years since Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month ended.

Snowbound brings renewed energy to that effort. "We have a huge range of activities and opportunities for our visitors to have a go on an indoor dry slope or a roller ski experience. There was a kind of rail jam going on. We have live music," Morgan said.

Morgan feels the U.S. has a lot of potential for growth, especially relative to the U.K. "In the U.K. we have an aging skiing and snowboarding population. We are losing people at the bottom, and there is virtually zero being fed in at the top. It's really bad," he said. The clubs and travel programs that used to promote skiing and riding are fading away, and there's been little to replace them.

In contrast, Morgan noted Stateside skiing and snowboarding seem more inviting for the younger audience. That includes DEI programs in particular. "It just feels like in the States you've got more initiatives, like Chill Foundation, Hoods to Woods, and Share Winter," he said.

"We want to make sure that snowsports, along with all the other shows that we do, are open to as many people as possible—white, black, male, female, any socioeconomical background. So we make sure that our lineups and our panels and our athletes and influencers are from a very diverse range, so that everyone can see themselves in that space and relate to it," Morgan explained.

Raccoon's timing appears to be good. In a recent SAM reader survey, "growing the sport" was the top priority for future articles. That desire, and the increased support resorts gave to Snowbound in its second year, indicate that Raccoon is on a viable path.

It Takes a Village

Of course, creating the resort atmosphere requires not just the participation of resorts, but of existing skiers and riders, too. Morgan admitted that the new format was a shock to many of these folks in its first year, since the sale aspect was largely missing. (It remained de-emphasized in year two, and will be larger, though still secondary to the entertainment aspects, in year three, he noted.)

Morgan is well aware that the effort to attract new skiers and riders requires broad support: "The only way we can do that is if we have the resorts, the vendors, everyone on board for that journey. It takes the energy and the buzz from everyone to be a part of this. Otherwise, people will come and think, 'why do I want to be involved in this scene?'"

Change is rarely easy, though. The new plan took a bit of explaining, to both exhibitors and guests. "They said, 'Hold on a second. I don't get it. You guys have come here, you've smashed it apart, and then you think you can do it in a certain way.' It took us a year to educate the audience and the vendors as to how we can do it," Morgan observed.

The audience is catching on; Morgan said that the expo's net promoter score doubled from year one to year two. And Raccoon will continue to refine Snowbound, as the Group's growing embrace of gear and apparel sales demonstrates.

Resorts could also step up their participation, Morgan believes. He predicted that Vail Resorts, which had cut back on attendance at consumer shows prior to the pandemic, will return. For two reasons: VR needs to find new ways to drive growth as pass sales hit a plateau, and because Snowbound will highlight European resorts and travel in year three. VR, remember, has recently added several European resorts to its Epic Pass portfolio.

New for Next Year

The addition of a European pavilion for the 2024 show, perhaps in the form of a mock European village, could help Snowbound draw new visitors. It's on point with the growth of multi-resort passes, which increasingly include European options. 

European resorts, Morgan said, offer a deeper cultural experience, and the pavilion will embody that. "The American audience wants to know what is this whole kind of après party scene with all these different kinds of cuisine and that whole off-snow experience. And with the strength of the dollar at the moment, it makes even more sense.

"The Euro village will not just show downhillers what Europe is about, but also the U.S. resorts as well—if the resort folks are open to learning. U.S. resorts are starting to become more about mountain culture and not just snow sliding, but they still have a long way to go," Morgan said.

Beyond Snowbound Boston

Could Raccoon expand and produce shows beyond Snowbound? Yes, and it is starting with the Boston Outdoor Expo this spring. It will offer a full weekend of entertainment and inspiration for outdoor enthusiasts, with the chance to see and hear a lineup of 30 speakers, take part in a range of activities, and shop the latest in gear and nutrition and advice. As with Snowbound, the Outdoor Expo will follow the format of Raccoon's National Outdoor Expo, also launching this spring in London or Birmingham in the U.K. 

"It's exactly the same kind of format as Snowbound, with the same goal of getting more people outdoors," Morgan said. He also encouraged winter resorts with summer programs to attend, and to observe what other outdoor businesses are doing.

While Raccoon could expand Snowbound itself to more cities in the future, it's in no hurry.

"At the moment we are very focused on fine tuning the Boston event," Morgan said. "Year one, it was a launch product. Year two, we almost went into launch mode again, because we moved venues and dates, and we grew the show from 82,000 square feet to 160,000 square feet. Year three, we'll be tightening the details and generally just making it a bit more well-rounded."

Long term, he added, "We are looking to other regions." These regions, Morgan said, tend to be distant from major ski resorts, places where people have to fly or make a long drive to their destinations. Think major metro areas on the West Coast.

"We wouldn't target somewhere that is almost on the doorstep of the mountains," Morgan said, citing Denver as an example. "Those people are not really super excited about going to an expo because it's in their face all the time."

For all those people who don't have mountains in their face all the time, Snowbound wants to be the biggest show in town.

Report by Rick Kahl

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