Target: Bodies or Cultural Groupies?
Let me start right out by admitting I am seriously age-impaired—indeed, cautioned at the recent NSAA convention in San Diego to give up buying green bananas.
But, hey, the convention theme was Youth and I enthusiastically attended as many sessions as I could, lapping up wisdom on the youth culture—how to attract them, what they’re thinking, what they like, what they buy and (more importantly) what turns them off. And I was getting my information from guys who had awesome credentials—guys who head companies with gajillions in sales of cool clothes, shoes and jewelry to these millions of kids. Specifically, we’re talking about a couple of keynoters: Robert McKnight, the head dude at Quiksilver ($700 million in sales from youth-branded labels like Roxy, Raisins and Hawk) and Jay Wilson, marketing guru for Vans who manages 650 Vans athletes in the promotion of their lines of action sports clothing and shoes.
It was great stuff. Inspirational. I saw videos of kids displaying some amazing athleticism. What grabbed me, though, while I was being seduced by the exciting imagery of it all, was that it was just that: imagery. I learned, for instance, that only five percent of the surfing groupies who bought Bob McKnight’s surfing-inspired products actually surf themselves. They come to the big wave exhibition surfer gatherings, they revel in the music, they worship their surfing gods and goddesses. . .but only five out of a hundred actually surf. They just buy into the culture, identify with it and buy the products that confirm that identity. It makes for heady economic success.
But as I thought about it, I wondered how all this impacts us in the mountain resort industry. I wondered about the lessons for our marketing. I wondered how this dazzling imagery, created by the handful of young athletes under contract to perform mind-bending tricks on skis and boards, affects the market we are trying to grow. Does it inspire kids to take up the sport in order to reach these same levels? Or does it create a sort of virtual desire whereby today’s obese and sports-averse teens can buy into the culture of the sport without ever participating? (See also “Winter Feels Good” on page 18.)
It’s an important question, because we depend on people paying money to get butts from the bottom of the mountain to the top. We need bodies. People who just buy the trappings of a snowboarder without riding may help Bob McKnight, but not us. It seems to me that we must be clear-eyed about our objectives. As we derive inspiration from the keynote messages of people who prosper by understanding and marketing to the youth culture, we must also understand that these people are brilliant exploiters of that culture, whereas we are dependent on the real thing, not just the culture.
Weather Is a Strength
by Robert S. Rockwell
Having just read Chris Brink’s article “2001-02 Economic Analysis: Clouded” (March 2003 SAM), I feel he is definitely onto something, and that is the performance of the industry over time. The entire article makes several good points, but as a banker, the need to show results “over time” may be the most critical. We all have our credit underwriting processes, and a key point I’ve learned to make is that particularly here in the East, important variables such as day and night temperatures vary only a degree or two over any five- to seven-year period. The argument then goes that not many industries have such a constant key factor. Thus, the weather is a strength, not a weakness, when evaluating credit.
Whatever Happened to the Growth Initiative?
by Rick Kahl
NSAA’s Growth Initiative has stalled. Nestled quietly among the mostly soothing stats of the Kottke End-of-Season Survey is a body of evidence that proves it. Doesn’t anybody believe in it any more?
The Growth Initiative, you may recall, requires increased trial and conversion as a means to expanding the number of skier/rider visits over the next 25 years. In particular, it calls for a six percent increase in trial, and one percent increase in the conversion rate every year for the next decade. The Kottke report does not measure conversion, but it does track the number and type of ski and snowboard lessons taken, and the news on trial is not good. Overall, lessons were down 1 percent, even as overall visits grew by 6 percent. Lesson activity decreased 1.5 percent for skiing, grew 1 percent for snowboarding, and was up 2.5 percent for kids lessons. Still, in every region of the country, lessons lagged.
The news for level 1 (beginner) lessons is even worse: they were down 4.4 percent. That is fully 10 percent off from the Growth Initiative target.
What this means is that skier-rider growth in 2002-03 resulted from more days on the hill by existing skiers and riders. The ski and ride industry is benefiting from strong snowfall, the attraction of discounted passes, and the enduring activity of Baby Boomers, who are not dropping out of the sport as quickly as many expected them to.
Two out of these three factors—Boomers and snow—can not be counted on indefinitely. For that reason, the 57 million-plus skier/rider visits for 2002-03 provide false comfort. The continuing activity of the Boomers has simply postponed the day of reckoning. Their skiing and riding habits have not changed the immutable demographic tide, which dictates that at some point the industry must find new participants to replace the large and aging Boomer population.
That brings us back to the reasons for the Growth Initiative in the first place. The members of Gen Y, a group as large as the Boomers themselves, must be attracted to the mountains and hills, and not just the kids of existing skiers and snowboarders—they are not enough. We need to tap into the uninitiated, which will require some pretty slick marketing.
For starters, this group is ethnically more diverse than the Boomers. Gen Y also has a lot more leisure-time options than the Boomers did. Gen Y is tempted to stay home and play video games. The recent NSAA convention and trade show in San Diego focused on what it takes to market to this group for a very good reason.
None of this is new—we’ve heard it before. Yet, as an industry, we are failing our mission. We clearly need to try harder. We need to look around us and see what some of the more successful mountain resorts are doing with beginner terrain and programs. We need to make sure that the marketing department and the ski and ride school are fully integrated into area management. All departments, in fact, have to be organized and optimized for the strategy of increasing trial and conversion. Whatever specific tactics and programs an area employs, we need more skiers and snowboarders.
What We Need Here Is a New Word
by Jules Older
We need—and I mean need—a word that describes what we do, not what we once did.
Once upon a time, we skied. Then, as equipment improved and lifts began hauling us up mountains, some of us skied downhill and others skied cross-country. Then, telemarking made its unexpected comeback, and we further divided. Next, we (briefly) snurfed, a trend that pretty much ended the night Jake Burton Carpenter snuck onto the slopes of Stratton Mountain carrying a snowboard. Then came terrain parks, and we spent as much time in air as on snow. What’s abundantly clear in the present is that we no longer just ski. So, today we cross-country, tele, alpine, board, skate and Misty Flip.
Trouble is, that’s a tiny, wee bit of a mouthful. So is the now-ubiquitous phrase, “skiing and snowboarding.”
Skiing and snowboarding. Entire forests of mature pine trees have been leveled by that long and dead-awkward phrase. Legions of publicists, marketers and ski writers have developed cases of carpal tunnel syndrome from typing that phrase.
No mo. From this moment forward, brothers and sisters, we don’t go skiing and snowboarding. Starting now, we skib.
Skib. As in, “Hey, snow’s falling—wanna go skibbing?”
“Yo, dewd, we like skibbed under the rope and got our tickets pulled.”
See? It works. Short, sweet, inclusive, and it works.
A Letter from Magic
by Gary E. Aicholz, General Manager, Magic Mountain, Vt.
I was very excited to see the story about wind energy at Magic Mountain in the May 2003 issue of SAM, however, there were a couple of inaccuracies.
Where did “perennially cash strapped” ski area come from? Magic has been growing and improving every year for the last six years, with record numbers this past season. The new owners haven’t over-extended themselves and, as a result, Magic is probably in a better financial state than many other ski areas.
Second, the reference to 175 skiers stranded for three hours on a broken chairlift right after Christmas was false. It was the first time in six years that a lift evacuation took place at Magic and it took 1 hour and 45 minutes. The lift was reinspected and up and running within three hours.
Magic Mountain has paid its dues and would rather be recognized for having owners and staff that are passionate about winter sports.
