Low snow in the West, the state of the economy, the cost of skiing and the competition of other recreational activities and destinations contributed to a gnawing concern shared by ski industry people this year. A concern that they should take stock of the state of the industry overall, and the relative strength of their own product. Not to mention, the effectiveness of individual and collective marketing efforts.
Customer research data is still being compiled by ski areas who do lift-line and lodging surveys, and has yet to be analyzed. Yet, review of early raw data gives an indication of what’s on the customer’s mind these days. And, review of daily reports—sales to date of lift tickets (single and multi-day), ski school lessons, rentals, etc., plus comparisions to last year’s figures—gives one a sense of how the ski area is doing this year. Eavesdropping at the ticket office and in lift lines, plus informal conversations on chairlifts add to the sense of knowing what today’s customer wants. The information gathering process is crucial to your planning for the coming year. E.g., you’ve been “hyping” five and seven-day ski week packages for the past five years. Yet, this year’s daily reports tell you ski week sales are down, three-day ticket sales are way up and a number of informal chairlift conversations with customers indicate that they all consider themselves too advanced for lesson packages. Your planning for 1981’s marketing efforts might reflect 1) a decision to put a lot of dollars, time and effort into marketing your five/seven-day ski week product; or, 2) changing/adjusting the product to fit the needs of the majority of your current customers, on the assumption that they all plan to ski with you again next year.
As you write your 1981-82 marketing plan, you must ask yourself the same old questions:
- What kind of ski area are we?
- Who are our customers and where do they come from?
- What segment of our product are they buying and what doesn’t sell?
- Are their demographics changing and should the product we offer reflect that change? Can it?
- Are we effectively reaching entry-level skiers? Holding on to the long-time skier, the season passholder? Fighting the “drop-out syndrome” with creative programs?
- Are there market segments we might target—ones we have ignored in the past?
- What produced the greatest measureable return for monies expended—advertising, direct sales, group sales, working with partners in the travel industry, promotions, publicity, direct mail?
- What “worked” this year? Which promotions produced customers? Which ones were primarily media events? Which ones cost a lot and produced little measureable return?
- Which “trade outs” were productive?
- Which promotions and trade outs fed egos, but brought in little or no revenues?
- What can we afford to do next year, based on this year’s projected revenues?
- Where are additional marketing resources available and how can they supplement individual efforts, e.g. state and private promotional entities? Where do they fit into our plan?
Some would argue that we are a maturing, if not mature, industry, and should be concerned that we don’t experience a decline over the next few years. Skiing is once again becoming an elitist sport, they say, for all the reasons mentioned above, i.e., only the elite can afford it.
To complicate matters, American Demographics magazine, in its January, 1981, issue predicted: “Skiing will soon become a declining industry . . . The median age of active skiers is only 26, while the median age of the general population has already turned 30 and will reach 35.5 by the year 2000.” It adds that, by then, there will be 2.5 million fewer people in the 25-29 age group.
Yet, I do see some signs of hope out there. There are ski industry people in the marketplace, who are actively and effectively promoting this sport in real and potentially fruitful ways “to the masses”.
Some examples: The SIA-sponsored high school assembly program is reaching the people who will be at the median age by the turn of the century. The program has been touted at other times in these pages and in industry forums. The point is, it literally is an investment in the ski industry’s future. Let’s keep supporting it and programs like it that introduce people to skiing in their youth, particularly the children of non-skiers.
I dropped by the third annual Winter Festival in New York’s Central Park this year. Sponsored by Herman’s Sporting Goods in cooperation with The City of New York/Department of Parks and Recreation and organized by ski industry impresario Bernie Weichsel, the event features free cross country ski use, free instruction, demonstrations, contests, etc. What I loved about it, was that people of all sizes, shapes and color were out skiing on skinny skis in Central Park—and having a wonderful time.
A recent conversation with ski writer Lloyd Lambert reminds me that we have a tremendous resource in older skiers. Lambert, age 79, organized the 70-Plus Ski Club four years ago. He has been skiing since 1915, and is the living proof that skiing is a lifetime sport. His goal is to make skiing available to people living on fixed incomes, so he has convinced ski resorts to offer discount or completely free skiing, based on the skiers’ age. Members pay $5 for a lifetime membership and a number of ski areas support the program, as well as the Senior Olympics, the Veterans racing series and a new cross-country program called the Senior PEP (physical exercise pays) League for people fifty years and over.
Savvy marketing people will start to include “seniors” in their advertising and promotional literature and participate in the above programs—or design ones that are locally appropriate. The twenty-year-old “timid Tom” or “bunny” surely can’t remain scared of skiing when they see “Senior Sam” run the NASTAR course and earn a gold medal.
The marketing emphasis of this sport used to be: “OK, Lloyd Lambert, have you skied ‘Corbett’s Couloir’?” Demographics and marketing savvy, I think, have changed the emphasis to “Hey, Lloyd Lambert, Wilma Wage-earner, Barney Bunny and Tommy Teen—have you tried skiing? We think you’ll like it—and we know you can do it.”
Finally, I attended the grand opening Beaver Creek in Colorado, the first major resort to open in years. It was a joyous day—primarily because the staff were obviously excited and defintely were service-oriented. Friends who were there also commented on how “up” the staff were. My point: it was a joy to be at Beaver Creek because the staff were acting as if it was indeed opening day. All ski areas should strive for that enthusiasm. Impossible, you say. All I know is, at some ski areas I visit, the staff do treat me as if it was indeed the first day of operations—and they’ve been in operation for years. That, more than anything will sell our product—and keep our skiers skiing with us.
