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March 2017

Blue Pages :: March 2017

Perspective and Views

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SIA, OR SHOWS RIPE FOR REVOLUTION
The abrupt decision in mid-February to move the Outdoor Retailer (OR) show out of Salt Lake City opens the door to a major change in the retail trade show scene, including the SIA Snow Show. In case you missed it, the news broke Feb. 16, after Utah Gov. Gary Herbert refused to abandon Utah Republicans’ state and national efforts to gut the Antiquities Act, shrink the Bears Ears National Monument, and transfer federal lands to the state. With state policies completely at odds with the culture of OR retailers and suppliers, the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) decided to look for a new home.


The decision allows Snowsports Industries America (SIA), OIA, and Emerald Expeditions, which runs the Outdoor Retailer show, to reorganize the show season—which dearly needs it. The three organizations were already talking, in general terms, about such a collaboration in the days before OR’s decision to leave Utah. All have acknowledged that a combined or “blended” show in Denver, where SIA just signed a contract extension with the Convention Center through 2030, is possible. SIA president Nick Sargent is talking favorably of a combined show, and SIA marketing director Todd Walton is a former OIA staff member and outdoor industry veteran. That connection could help lubricate negotiations.

There are several complications: SIA is non-profit, Emerald is for-profit, and their shows are priced much differently as a result. Plus, there’s a long history of competition between the shows. But there are good motivations, too. All shows are finding it harder to draw attendees as the retail brick-and-mortar business contracts, which leaves exhibitors restive. SIA, OIA, and Emerald all have reason to embrace change.

One notion that would make sense (which probably makes it unlikely) would be to schedule an outdoor and snowsports apparel show in, say, mid-November, which suits suppliers’ production deadlines, and a late January (or later) show for hard goods and other suppliers who have shorter lead times. Hey, we can dream.

MOUNTAIN OF CASH
As part of a partnership with Whistler Blackcomb, Canadian bank CIBC hauled an 8.5-foot-tall, 4,676 pound ATM machine up Whistler Mountain and parked it outside the Roundhouse Lodge at 6,097 feet above sea level. It’s billed as “Canada’s first ski-thru ATM.” Which begs the question: is there a ski through ATM in the U.S.?


That’s not the only question that comes up, at least for us, about this high elevation cash dispenser. The first is: Why? At the same time: Why not? CIBC had a (presumably) weatherproof cash shack it needed something to do with, and we’re writing about it, so clearly it made some sort of splash.

Convenience is a challenge at all ski areas, just by nature of the process of getting onto a ski hill. If there are inventive ways to make the guest experience more convenient, we’re all for it. So, in that respect, this is cool.

One more question comes to mind, though: How long will it take for some enterprising folks to start standing downwind from it to collect all those $20s flying around?

RED SEES GREEN
If you’ve ever wondered how to launch a marketing campaign that raises $10 million in capital investment from a bunch of people who love your mountain, just ask Howard Katkov, CEO of Red Mountain in B.C. He’s doing it as you read this. And that capital comes at a zero percent interest rate.

Since Katkov took over at Red more than a decade ago, the resort has taken a less than traditional approach to its marketing (remember the “Red Sucks” videos from a few years ago? Gold.)

He sees the consolidation and overdevelopment of ski resorts as a threat to the culture of skiing, one that could lead to the demise of independently owned ski resorts, big and small. Red Mountain is one of the biggest independently owned areas (4,200 acres, 3,000 vertical feet), and Katkov wants to keep it independent—with some help.

In August, the resort launched “Fight the man. Own the mountain.”—a campaign taking the unprecedented step of a for-profit ski area using online crowdfunding to raise capital in return for an equity share of ownership. Phase I, called “Test the Waters,” saw around 3,000 people raise their hands and say, “You betcha. I’ll invest in Red.” The minimum buy-in is only $1,000, and the highest of the six tiers is $25,000. By early February, the $10 million goal of investment reservations (commitment-free) was reached, and Red began the legal and accounting process of launching an equity offer.

If the regulatory process goes as planned, Red Mountain will start accepting real dollars from people who will become real equity owners of the resort (though they are non-voting shares). Fussed about getting feedback from 3,000 new owners? Katkov looks forward to it. He says everyone that buys in loves the place, loves the mission, and/or loves the message. Sure, there will be some squeaky wheels, but in his view, he’s getting a few thousand of the most committed ambassadors on earth—and that can only help.

How did he do it? By being honest, transparent, genuine, and passionate, he says. In a day when resorts hire agencies to come up with marketing campaigns that show how “real” they are, Katkov orchestrated a marketing department of five (including him) and a Facebook ads budget of less than 10 grand. Soon, they’ll have $10 million to invest in resort enhancements. Pretty sweet ROI.

RIP SKIING MAGAZINE
This time, the news of Skiing Magazine’s death sounds real. After 69 years, current owner Active Interest Media is ending the magazine’s print run. Its spirit lives on, though, in a variety of digital and online media, and as part of a broader, more inclusive SKI magazine.

For the past 20 years, Skiing has been the winter-adventure magazine, focused on a younger audience than SKI. That voice will now join the more family-oriented tone of SKI. AIM is aiming for a “big-tent approach,” with an appeal to a wide swath of passionate skiers—which is what both magazines strove for before they were brought under a single ownership back in 1990.

The brand won’t completely disappear. Kimberly Beekman, the magazine’s first female editor-in-chief, will direct digital video, television and online media under the Skiing brand; skiingmag.com will survive as well.

“We are really focused on the total audience, and the growth is in mobile and video,” AIM CEO Andrew Clurman told the Denver Post. “In some cases, if there is less print in the form of Skiing, there is more content going out to more people in total, and that’s really the whole mission.

“We are constantly reinventing, redesigning and repurposing magazines as best to serve the audience ... that involves responding to how people are changing their habits and how the sports are changing,” Clurman said.

TRUMPED UP
While President Trump’s ultimate impact on resorts remains to be seen—“reduced regulations” sounds favorable, but the freeze on federal hiring and the “one new for two deleted” requirement for new regulations threaten gridlock in the near term—one obvious concern is his aim to eliminate the J-1 visa program. During the campaign, Trump promised to undo the program and replace it with one in which inner city students in the U.S. would be eligible for such positions. They are now, too, of course, but this might spur them to head to the mountains.

Don’t count on it, though. NSAA is asking ski areas to tell the State Department how important the program is, and will provide details on how to submit short letters of support. “Do not underestimate the threat of Trump’s broader immigration initiatives and its impact on ski areas,” warns NSAA governmental affairs chief Geraldine Link. As more effort is placed on deporting unauthorized immigrants, that will place demands on existing legal immigration programs—assuming there are any. And if Trump’s DOL pushes for mandatory E-verify programs, competition for labor will ramp up further.