Operation Snoblast, NSAA’s youth marketing program, is about to launch, with the sole purpose of attracting 10- to 17-year-old Echo Boomers. The program, begun with $500,000 seed money from the “big four” ski agglomerates (Vail, Intrawest, ASC and Booth Creek) and a pot sweetened by $100,000 from SIA, was unveiled last summer at the NSAA national convention in Colorado Springs.
Operation SnoBlast consists of a toll-free number and a web site offering information on resorts and winter sports, to be promoted with a sweepstakes during a two-week, nationwide ad blitz at the end of January. It has been designed as a grass-roots campaign with national components that can be adapted for use by individual ski areas and regional area associations.
The timing of the program, both in design and execution, has been tight. The June approval date at NSAA’s convention did not leave much time for the specifics of design and organization, even given the relatively late release date (last week of January through the first week of February). At press time, the web site and toll-free number were still bare-bones, although Mike McMenamy, NSAA’s director of marketing, said that they were already receiving as many as 100 calls a day, even without promotion.
The January release date was seen as desirable for several reasons. Although it may miss out on early-season excitement, McMenamy says it avoids competition for Christmas dollars, reaches college students upon their return to school and takes advantage of the momentum between the Martin Luther King and Presidents’ Day holidays. In addition, said McMenamy, participating areas will have more inventory at that time and will be more willing to provide attractive offers coinciding with and supporting the promotion.
In an informal survey of ski areas, the concept of Operation SnoBlast was applauded, although the majority of ski areas questioned were largely unaware of recent developments.
“I wonder if we are working so hard to market outside our industry that we forgot to market to ourselves?” asked Kathy DeGree, marketing director at Mt. Bachelor, Ore. “Even so, I applaud NSAA, Michael Berry and Mike McMenamy for taking this step. Now it’s up to us as an industry to embrace it and make it work.”
Ski area participation will be key to the success of the program, said McMenamy. Though basic nuts-and-bolts information on individual resorts has been posted on the site, it is the stream of information on upcoming events and special offers to be provided by individual areas that will keep kids coming to the site.
“It’s important for everyone to take a look at it now to make sure it’s doing what they want it to do,” said Ingrid Campbell, marketing director at Ski Windham, N.Y. Her first look led to an adjustment of the Ski Areas of New York (SANY) web site—connected to the SnoBlast site through a hot link—to emphasize SANY’s “Learn-to-Ski, 1-2-3” program, an ideal tie-in for new skiers.
Although Campbell was unable to buy any of the national ads, as Ski Windham’s marketing dollars had already been allocated, she was enthusiastic about the opportunities offered by the web site and toll-free number. “It doesn’t take much time and it’s easy to do,” she said. “We can promote all our events and change it as often as we like.”
How It Works
The juiciest carrot in the campaign is the Ultimate SnoBlast Sweepstakes with a grand prize of an all-expense paid, seven-day trip for three to the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in April at Whistler/Blackcomb, B.C. All necessary equipment, including gear, accessories and outerwear, is included. Participants losing out on the grand prize will still be eligible to win one of several other two- or three-day ski trips in North America.
The heart of the campaign, however, is in the toll-free number (1-888-SNOBLAST) and the website (www.snoblast.com). These two elements are customized and interactive, designed to tell kids how to get started in winter sports and where to go to participate. They offer information on resorts, ski conditions, deals, events and the opportunity to register for the sweepstakes, at which point names, addresses and demographic specifics are captured for use in direct mail efforts. Respondents who submit a request for more information will receive a brochure on where to go, what to wear, advice on the lingo—in general, information for curious newcomers on how to get into winter sports. Ski areas will receive the names and addresses based on zip codes in order to follow up with their own marketing materials, hopefully providing the final motivation to get the respondent to the mountain.
The program’s direct mail components will be coordinated by SIA’s Customer First group, beginning with a postcard that will be sent to 100,000 Spin subscribers in 12 key regional ski markets: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington, Toronto and Montreal. Initial plans were trimmed down because of budget limitations, but with additional sponsorship dollars, NSAA hopes to eventually add a second tier of cities including Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Denver, Portland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Hartford and Charlotte.
The sweepstakes will be promoted nationally with the toll-free number and the web site in print ads, which will run in national sports and lifestyle magazines geared to the target demographic: Spin, TransWorld Skateboarding, TransWorld Snowboarding, Warp and Freeze. In addition, a 60-second radio spot will run in the 12 key markets and a national television ad will run on STV (Surf/Skate/Snow) cable stations. A poster program will also prompt skiing at colleges in the 12 regional markets.
The ads will feature MTV personality Peter King, whose signing was “a real coup,” said McMenamy. The special events host is renowned among young teenagers for such stunts as surfing Hawaii’s Bonzai Pipeline fully dressed in snowboard clothes.
What Ski Areas Can Do
Resort members can participate in Operation SnoBlast in several ways. On the toll-free line, for example, a direct-connect option is available that transfers callers directly to individual areas. If the area has a live operator, a “whisper system” notifies them that the caller is a SnoBlast respondent. At Ski Windham, switchboard operators are being trained to direct SnoBlast calls to the central reservation service, which handles the learn-to-ski program. Another option on the toll-free line is for areas to provide a prerecorded 15- to 30-second introductory message for interested callers.
Areas can customize and update their segment of the web site as often as desired by sending information through the “members” page. Updates to the site have a two-hour turnaround time for posting, according to McMenamy. Items of interest for posting may include upcoming events, special deals and opportunities, but McMenamy advises areas to remember the target demographic when posting information. “You wouldn’t want to post a Senior Citizen’s Saturday special,” he said.
Individual ski areas can purchase any of the national ads—print, TV or radio—and customize them for use by adding a tag line or logo. Three versions of the print ad— ski-specific, snowboard-specific and a combined ski/snowboard version—are available for purchase. Radio and TV spots are also available, with 10 seconds left blank on the radio ads and five seconds on the TV ads for customization.
McMenamy said that there is no way to keep neighboring areas from purchasing the same ads, but that he will try to keep an eye on things to prevent unwanted duplications within a market. He pointed out, however, that the program is not designed to foster competition between ski areas, but rather to sell the mountain experience in order to benefit the industry as a whole.
McMenamy sees Operation SnoBlast as a 10-year program. “I’ve got to remind myself that we’re developing a product and concept this year,” he said. “If we can show that it is effective and if we have a model already built, then we can take it to sponsors and build a huge war chest, but first we need to have the product in hand.”
“The best ideas take time to refine and grow,” said DeGree. “If we look at this program as being in the embryo stage, we all have to nurture it. If not, it won’t work.”
Or, as Campbell said, “If I’ve got somebody out there marketing for me and all I have to do is check a web site and make sure the phones are answered properly, I’m going to take advantage of it!”
