In a season during which prolific snow was falling out West before most in the East had seen a flake, the approach to resort marketing, like the snowfall, was a tale of two sides. With Ma Nature serving up free marketing soup in the form of jaw-dropping, powder-filled content on one side, honesty and creativity in the midst of a mostly snow-free season ruled the day on the other. And while snow brings people, clever messaging can sell lift tickets—and more.

From coast to coast, resorts mixed things up this year. Traditional media remains a pillar of many marketing campaigns, as evidenced by the volume of resorts utilizing print. Video was used effectively to show the good, the bad, the fun, and the ugly. We saw many resorts using video in different ways other than “ski porn” content, although there was still plenty of that, too.

Digital media is no longer “on the rise” or very new—it’s standard. Many resorts have gained a better understanding of their audiences, and are generating digital content to reflect that. Spearfishing rather than casting a net, if you will. Others still have some learning to do.

Grassroots events that spawned successful marketing and PR were a trend this winter. Several of these had more traction and sparked more hype than a typical one-and-done onhill happening.

Also notable is the number of serendipitous marketing successes (or gaffes). It goes to show that many situations, good or other, can morph into part of a resort’s marketing effort, intentional or not. How these moments are handled determines how beneficial or detrimental they can be.

As in the past, this remains a subjective review. This is not a poll, survey, or judged competition. We sourced a variety of industry watchers to weigh in on resort marketing efforts, good or bad, from this past season. Each entry is the product of the individual who wrote it. We believe that what stood out to them, and us, also stood out to those who buy lift tickets. If we missed a few sterling hits or awful groaners, please feel free to tell us about them in the comment section at the bottom of any page.

 

GENERAL

 

 

BEST SMALL MOUNTAIN MARKETING REVIVAL: WEST MOUNTAIN, N.Y.

If you are going to invest in your ski area, make sure people know about it. The big resorts live this credo, but sometimes the mom and pop areas don’t. Props to West Mountain of Glens Falls, N.Y., for going all in. The campaign included a diverse ad spend, lift installation videos, behind the scenes fodder, and regional media coverage, while highlighting the new local family ownership vibe. New lighting, lift, snowmaking, and lesser-seen upgrades went along with a hype machine to ensure best chance of increased trial and visitation. Tack on a slick and simple responsive website, and West is positioned to capitalize on its on-mountain efforts. —A.K.

 

 

CLASSIEST SMALL MOUNTAIN 50TH ANNIVERSARY OWL'S HEAD, QC

Not just 50 years, but 50 years owned and run by the same family without external financing or bankruptcy. While Whistler may take the bulk of the accolades during its celebratory season (see below), Fred Korman and family get a tip of the hat for delivering some of the finest and most value-oriented skiing in Quebec for five decades. As part of the celebration, a near 40-page magazine was produced, in both languages of course, that documents one of the more inspiring family stories in ski area operation. —A.K.

 

 

MOST AUTHENTIC GREEN LEADERSHIP: JIMINY PEAK, MASS.

Much of the ski industry checks the environmental box with token gestures for green initiatives that turn into marketing messages. Some are leading the pack by making green energy production a growing segment of their business models. Efficiency, lobbying, and awareness are all commendable activities, but physical action and large-scale investment demonstrate true leadership. The Fairbank Group deserves serious praise on this front. They’ve become the wind and solar leaders in the industry. While some were trying to maximize the splash from a few new snow guns, Jiminy Peak turned on the largest community solar array in the Northeast. As this issue marches towards the forefront of our culture, the resorts of the Fairbank Group will have a significant head start. —A.K.

 

 

BEST USE OF A HASHTAG: LOON MOUNTAIN, N.H.

In the 2016 season, Loon slowly released a new hashtag, #parkandpowclub, via its @loonparksnh Instagram channel. The message was clear to the freestyle snowboard and ski population: Loon is the place to go if you love to ride any and everything. The resort printed not-for-sale sweatshirts with the slogan and new logo, and had opinion leaders, pros, and mountain staff wear the gear, creating lots of buzz. Loon completed the circle by running a print ad offering the cherished hoodie to the first readers who participated in the ad’s call to action. As it stands, the community utilizing the hashtag continues to grow. —M.W.

 

BEST EXPLOITATION OF AN EVENT: MISSION RIDGE, WASH.

When seminal snowboarding event company Snowboy Productions teamed up with Mission Ridge in central Washington for The Breach—a creative, transition-based snowboard contest on a series of massive snow whales—they did more than launch a successful contest. After the winners were decided and the prizes doled out, Mission Ridge left the set-up standing, calling the unique terrain the Bomber Bowl Park. Park rats flocked to the resort and provided plenty of promotion through their personal social feeds using the very appropriate #bomberbowlpark hashtag. Strong way to make a lasting impression, Mission Ridge. —M.W.

 

 

BEST USE OF A WATERPARK IN WINTER: MOUNTAIN CREEK, N.J.

Mountain Creek’s Action Park is one of the coolest water parks in the U.S. To highlight the iconography of the striped tubes and spiraling slides, the New Jersey resort collaborated with young snowboarders Red Gerard and Toby Miller for Red Bull Snowmusement Park—a photo shoot that became a story in SNOWBOARDER Magazine, as well as a video and comprehensive digital rollout. The striking colors and shapes of the waterslides, as well as the unique tricks that Red and Toby were able to perform on the creative structures struck a chord. The content was presented strategically across each media platform just as Mountain Creek was starting to turn its lifts for winter. —M.W.

 

 

LUCKIEST TIMING FOR AN EVENT: WHISTLER, B.C.

The first weekend of December, Whistler Blackcomb collaborated with a group of local and legendary female pros known as the Full Moon Crew to host a ladies’ ride day, aptly titled Early Bird Social, to welcome the season. The premise was simple: reach out to a few dozen snow-loving females (from nearby and far away), get them to Whistler, and pray for snow. Mother Nature must have been psyched to see the more than 80 women who gathered at the base of Whistler to ride together that day, because she provided the first solid storm of the season. The women took to their social channels to espouse on how great early winter was at Whistler, piling photos on a shared hashtag. The result: lots of stoke, social spread, and an extra easy push at the beginning of the season. —M.W.

 

 

WORST OPENING DAY EVER: CHERRY PEAK, UTAH

After a two-year wait full of false starts, Cherry Peak, Utah’s first new ski area in decades, was finally ready. Opening day arrived, the rental shop was stocked, and the slopes freshly groomed. The only thing missing? Skiers. For the biggest day in its history, Cherry Peak failed to spread the word beyond an optimistic Facebook post. Fewer than 10 skiers were in line when the lifts started spinning. People who arrived at the base just 15 minutes before the resort opened snagged first chair. the only media on hand was one photographer from the local newspaper. With perhaps the most newsworthy Utah skiing event in years, Cherry Peak failed to capitalize. —G.B.

 

 

BEST RECOVERY FROM A BAD IDEA: ALBERTA, CAN.

While there’s no specific resort to name here, multiple reports out of Alberta last fall described plans and campaigns centered on the imminent El Nino snowfall. Marketers were excitedly chattering about the big winter to come as they worked to bring in big names and big outlets to experience what were sure to be all-time conditions. The only problem? Historically, El Nino has been terrible for Alberta, and that turned out to be the case this go-round as well (January brought only a foot of snow to many Alberta resorts). Luckily, the mountains saw the flaw in their strategy before going live, which saved them, and their guests, the frustration of expecting one thing and experiencing something else entirely. —G.B.

 

WORST WAY TO EMBRACE THE LOCALS: SUMMIT AT POWDER MOUNTAIN, UTAH

What do you get when you mix millionaire Millennials, a small Utah town, and rapid changes to the locals’ favorite resort? A PR disaster, as unfolded after Summit purchased Powder Mountain. If building a massive party house in an extremely conservative family community wasn’t enough, a dispute over water rights took things from bad to worse. Hundreds of homes in the valley have staked anti-Summit signs in their yards, locals are refusing to ski there out of principle, and local media is littered with negative coverage. Meanwhile, a decent marketing or PR message has yet to emerge from resort ownership to save what’s left of their local market. Maybe they don’t want one? —G.B.

 

COOLEST PR MOVE: SUNLIGHT MOUNTAIN, COLO.

Guests ask all the time for ski areas to open early. It happens so often that almost every ski area’s reply is the standard, “When weather and conditions permit.” But on Nov. 14, 2015, when four-year-old Elijah Mattson posted a Twitter video asking Sunlight to open early, the resort’s reply was different. Within hours, Mattson’s campaign drew nearly 1,000 impressions. The resort decided to embrace not only the message, but also the kid that delivered it. Within a few days, a new executive office at Sunlight was created, and Mattson became its first elected Mini-Mayor. In addition to a season pass and a seat at the executive table, the Mini-Mayor tackles issues like stickers, events, and the quality of hamburgers and PB & J sandwiches. —S.R.

 

 

BEST PUBLIC RELATIONS STUNT: WORLD'S LARGEST LESSON

Although the World’s Largest Lesson was an industry-wide initiative, it’s a credit to all the individual ski areas that made it successful. Ski areas large and small came together with the same goal of introducing newcomers to the sport, and to generate awareness of the start of Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. In the U.S., 164 ski areas participated, teaching about 4,000 lessons in just one morning. Estimates show the one-day PR event garnered about 11.7 million impressions, 40,000 interactions, and would have cost about $33,000 if paid for out of pocket. Not to mention all the social media buzz around the live event that was streamed through the learntoskiandsnowboard.org website. No official record was set (the Guinness rules are difficult to master), but the attempt was a smashing success nonetheless. —S.R.

 

 

 

MOST IN-YOUR-FACE MARKETING GAMBIT: SUNDAY RIVER, MAINE

Not everyone is signed up for your email snow alerts. Not everyone checks your website for the glowing reports about your snowmaking teams when there’s no snow in the city. Those push methods require action from your audience, and thus only reach the rabid. Billboards, on the other hand, are mandatory viewing. Always a leader in telling folks about its snow, Sunday River put its best Facebook photo up for you to see on your commute—and updated it at will. The battle against the backyard syndrome was never ending this season, and Sunday River took the power of a recent photo and targeted commuters chugging Dunkin’. —A.K.

 

MOST IRONIC BRAND PARTNERSHIP: MOUNTAIN COLLECTIVE AND PROTECT OUR WINTERS

It’s been something we all try to keep below the surface so we can go about our day: The ecological irony, that our recreational pursuit is perhaps one of the most egregious creators of carbon dioxide per capita, and all the while we stand on our soapbox trying to “raise awareness” about the threat of climate change. But a higher horse has emerged in our race to recreate with maximum possible environmental impact while wagging our finger at society. Protect Our Winters (POW) has teamed with the Mountain Collective, the pass that urges skiers to visit many distant locations for short visits in a single season, thus consuming prodigious amounts of fossil fuels. Skiers now have a way to give a larger FU to the atmosphere thanks to iconic resorts and POW. Am I the only one beginning to feel a bit greasy? —A.K.

 DIGITAL

 

BEST LEMONADE MADE FROM REAL LEMONS: BLUE MOUNTAIN, PENN.

It’s almost like a sad joke. What does a ski area promote in the winter when there’s no snow? The answer for Blue Mountain was: everything else! Instead of hiding behind closed doors, it faced the challenge head-on and tackled the lack of snow in its ads, social media, and email newsletters. Faced with lots of green grass, it started promoting the aerial park and laser tag courses with spring-like photos. To generate traffic and buzz, it kept the early season sales going and offered dining specials, which is unheard of in a normal season around the holidays. —S.R.

 

 

BEST LEMONADE MADE FROM REAL LEMONS (TIE): PEAKN' PEAK, N.Y.

What does Peak’n Peak talk about when there’s no snow? Food and drinks. Maybe with the hope that people can drink away their sorrows. By staying proactive through email newsletters and on social media, the area stayed accessible to guests and highlighted the best it had to offer. Kudus to the marketing department for making lemonade out of lemons. —S.R.

 

 

BEST USE OF A FAKE APOLOGY: SUGARBUSH, VT.

Typos. Is there any faster way to get a response to your content? Nowadays, the Internet police are on duty 24/7, just waiting to call you out. So use them to your advantage. Say that you made a mistake, even if you didn’t, and watch what happens. Sugarbush employed this tactic in order to get more eyeballs on good news about a storm over-performing expectations. The email blast, headlined with the word “CORRECTION,” grabbed my eyes, as well as a data-set-proven large chunk of readers. What needed correcting? The snowfall total—it kept going up. But the subject line implied the resort was on bended knee apologizing, which stood out far better than any celebratory message would. The inbox open rate struggle is real. Stay creative! —A.K.

 

 

BEST "WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" MESSAGE: JAY PEAK, VT.

During one of the warmest starts to a Vermont winter on record, Jay Peak was barely keeping its lifts spinning. But instead of bemoaning its snowless fate, the resort recognized that its community was struggling even more than it was. For 15 days, the resort highlighted local businesses near the resort that all make Jay vacations unique. Everything from pubs and inns to souvenir shops and doggie day care were featured in a dedicated post shared with all of Jay’s 60,000+ fans on Facebook. All sincerely appreciated the goodwill, the snow eventually came, and they made it through. Together. —G.B.

 

 

MOST INSENSITIVE MARKETING: SKI SNOW VALLEY, ONT.

It’s one thing to poke fun at beginners who haven’t yet learned the unwritten rules of ski culture, but it’s another thing entirely to do so from a resort account. Ontario’s Ski Snow Valley has not just embraced mocking newbies, but added reposted “Jerry of the Day” photos and videos to its regular content lineup. Our sport is struggling to grow its numbers and is heavily reliant on non-core skiers. Making these valuable guests the punch line of inside jokes, and then sharing those jabs on channels these people are following along is, to put it kindly, a very dangerous road. —G.B.

 

 

MOST INSENSITIVE FACEBOOK POST: HERMITAGE CLUB, VT.

Uncrowded slopes and non-existent lift lines are a couple of the benefits that come with joining a “private” ski hill. But even membership would agree that there’s a time and a place to boast about those benefits. Using a national holiday that celebrates a man who fought for equality and to end segregation is not one of them. The day after MLK Monday, Hermitage Club posted a photo with two images on it and the headline, “Skiing on MLK Weekend 2016.” The left side showed a long lift line and was marked “Public.” The right side showed no lift line at Hermitage’s ski hill, marked “Private.” One commenter said it best: “Is it really appropriate to tout exclusivity on MLK day?” Probably not. —D.M.

 

 

BEST TERRAIN PARK REBRAND: BLUE MOUNTAIN, PA.

Blue Mountain has a steadily increasing community of freestyle savants, and to acknowledge this unique subset of the mountain’s constituency the resort separately branded its parks for the 2015-16 season. The new logo is inclusive of both snowboarding and skiing and features the Pennsylvania keystone. In addition, the park crew started a terrain park-specific Instagram account, @bluemountainparks, which immediately got traction. The park crew, mountain marketing, and local riders use it to speak directly to the people who want to spend their time launching jumps and hitting metal. The #bluemountainparks hashtag further increased interaction. Very quickly, the park community at Blue has a popular digital home. —M.W.

 

BEST WINTER HYPE IN AUTUMN: BRIGHTON, UTAH

Skiers and riders around the Wasatch Mountains exude a palpable impatience to make turns that hangs electrically in the atmosphere once temps start dropping in early fall. Last October, the marketing squad at Brighton partnered with local pro snowboarders Ted Borland and Alex Andrews to green light the Bone Zone—a DIY, pre-season training ground built by area locals out of repurposed logs. Brighton, Ted, and Alex worked with SNOWBOARDER Magazine on a Bone Zone website that hosted videos, photos and social media content featuring the swarms of skiers and riders hitting the park. The site was a hub of pre-winter excitement in October and November, a time of the year when little in-season content was being released. —M.W.

 

 

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR AWARD: RED MOUNTAIN, B.C.

Not that I was in the market to book a cat skiing trip to B.C., but an email from Red Mountain that came just before Christmas—when I was wearing a t-shirt here in Vermont—had me seriously interested. The email featured a sweet powder shot, boasts of big snow, a hilarious lead sentence, and what looked like a great deal for cat skiing and lodging. My index finger was ready to click to learn more. But alas, the big red box with all the package details wasn’t clickable. Nor was the banner image. And the CTA, a few scrolls down telling me it was the “Last Call to Save”? That was for real estate. Making people work too hard to find info can deter them from booking. Maybe next time. —D.M.

 VIDEO

 

MOST FUN IN ONE RUN: MAMMOTH, CALIF.

Mammoth Mountain is known equally for its Unbound terrain parks as well as its prolific freeriding zones. In an effort to showcase its depth of acreage and variety of natural and man-made features, Mammoth launched Legends of the Fall Line, a video series centered on edits that start at the top of the mountain and follow a group of snowboarders down a different run each time. The series was an immediate hit. Not only did it showcase archetypal Eastern Sierra terrain, but also local pros like Garrett Warnick and Brandon Davis, as well as visitors Jamie Anderson and Sebastien Toutant. In the short, two- to three-minute videos, Mammoth was deftly able to showcase a variety of its hallmark attributes: expansive trail system, iconic residents and visitors, and plentiful snow. —M.W.

 

 

BEST VIDEOS OF CHICKS WHO SHRED: BRIGHTON, UTAH

Brighton Resort, just outside of Salt Lake City, has in recent years become a hub for burgeoning female snowboarders. The ladies flock to the pristine parks that Brighton offers, dialing in rail tricks and turning heads both in person and on social media. This season, Brighton dedicated a filmmaker to work with these athletes to produce Brighton Femme—a series of videos filled with hard-hitting riding from the talented ladies. The videos and subsequent social media support have made the rounds successfully on the Internet, placing both Brighton and its affinity to celebrate its local girls in the spotlight. —M.W.

 

 

 

BEST USE OF DINOSAURS IN A VIDEO: MOUNTAIN CREEK, N.J.

We’re not totally sure where the inspiration came from, but as a nod to Valentine’s Day, the crew at Creek released a Jurassic-sized video across its social channels that featured a snowboarding Tyrannosaurus Rex (a snowboarder in a massive, dinosaur costume) cruising down the hill, lonesome before meeting up with a lady peer on skis who was in the lift line. It was quick, it was cute, it gave new meaning to the term, “T. Rexing,” and the unusual social celebration of the romantic holiday that falls in the middle of the winter season was shared in spades across the Internet. —M.W.

 

 

BEST INSTANT GRATIFICATION: WACHUSETT, MASS.

Wachusett took the concept of instant content, normally reserved for social media, to a place no other marketer had before: television. By coordinating directly with TV stations, Wachusett is able to film a commercial in the morning, edit it during the day, and have it on the air that night. The result was 30- and 15-second spots that broke through the generic noise of typical ads. Marketing director Tom Meyers and co. showed Bostonians that while there may not have been snow in their backyards this morning, there was plenty at Wachusett. —G.B.

 

 

 

MOST OUTSTANDING TV ADS: COPPER MOUNTAIN, COLO.

For every person you talk to who loves Copper’s 2015-16 “Snow Day” videos, you’ll likely find someone who despises them. But that polarity is the beauty of the campaign. So much content, especially video, is incredibly similar and vanilla. Full of powder turns, catchy soundtracks, and smiling skiers. That content is hard to dislike, but it’s also hard to get genuinely excited about. Copper knew that the only way to achieve the best emotions was to break out of the blah box, and that it did. The series of awkwardly entertaining skits, depicting what happens inside the human body on snow days (like peeing yourself), is must-watch TV. Love them or hate them, these offbeat spots made Copper the only resort to make Adweek’s “Ad of the Day” and AdForum’s “Top 5 Travel Ads.” —G.B.

 

 

 

MOST HONEST SNOW REPORTS: MAD RIVER GLEN, VT.

“We kind of have a vertical ice rink forming up here right now. It isn’t pretty, folks, it really isn’t.” These are not words you typically hear from a resort, much less in a snow report. But Mad River Glen’s brutally honest snow reports broke the typical spin-cycle and rebuilt priceless trust with its skiers. In one video report, Mad River marketing director Eric Friedman showed skiers as they hiked and skied small patches of snow left over after a rainstorm. In a play off of MRG’s slogan, he closed the video with, “Come on out and ski the patch, IF YOU CAN.” In many ways, MRG was able to make lemonade out of this lemon of a season. When it had virtually nothing to gain, honesty managed to pull out a big win. —G.B.

 

 

MOST TRANSPARENT MANAGEMENT: TENNEY MOUNTAIN, N.H.

Transparency. It’s a word marketers claim far more often than they deliver. But as Tenney Mountain rose from the grave last year, its owner, Sir Michael Bouchard, went all in on transparency—and won. His daily video updates covered everything from vandalism in the lodge that totalled $50,000 to a novel siphon used to drain the snowmaking pond. Locals and industry enthusiasts alike followed along as Tenney’s Facebook fan count doubled, tripled, and then quadrupled, all in a matter of months. When other resorts struggled to get their fans’ attention in a warm, dry December, Tenney’s engagement rate was double that of any other New Hampshire resort. A strong Facebook following won’t magically put Tenney in the black, but it won’t hurt, either. —G.B.

 

 

BEST USE OF PERISCOPE: LOVELAND, COLO.

As Periscope’s initial wave of buzz crested, Loveland began making snow for the season. Recognizing the opportunity and power with this content, Loveland’s Dustin Schaefer pulled open the app one snowy morning, hit record, and created some of the most compelling content of the fall. The script read like a well-planned action sequence: run into the shed before jumping on a Polaris RZR just leaving the base only to narrowly avoid getting stuck multiple times. Then jump off and wait for a snowmobile to complete the exciting ride to the top, looking over the shoulder of a seasoned snowmaker. The content, created in real time, gave skiing enthusiasts around the world a compelling behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to get a ski area open, and made Loveland the most successful resort Periscope user yet. —G.B.

 

PRINT

 

MOST FUN CAPTURED IN A SPREAD: HIGH CASCADE

High Cascade Snowboard Camp’s advertising, aimed at attracting guests to its summer program, is not unlike that of mountains that operate in winter. Its ad campaign this past season focused on the Summer Snowboard Party, in which campers can strap in alongside their favorite pros. The campaign highlighted the child-like excitement we all feel when rubbing elbows with those who inspire us. It’s hard to make snowboarding in the summertime look bad, but High Cascade took the fun to the next level. Seeing them mid-winter made me want summer to start early. —M.W.

 

 

BEST USE OF ILLUSTRATION: MT. BACHELOR, ORE.

The Dirksen Derby is a banked slalom that takes place at Mt. Bachelor every December. It is one of the most community-oriented weekends of snowboarding, celebrating Bend locals and those who travel from around the world to compete, support, and reunite with friends. The race spans across demographics, engaging families, professionals, park rats and powder hounds. This year, Bachelor promoted the beloved event with a beautifully illustrated print ad paying homage to the multiple disciplines—snowboard, splitboard, and sit-ski—that cruise through the course. The ad acknowledged not only the Derby itself, but the solidarity it creates on the trails of the mountain. —M.W.

 

 

BEST USE OF A BOARD GAME: BEAR MOUNTAIN, CALIF.

Bear Mountain in SoCal has long had a team of riders that are some of the best of any resort. To reinforce the good times that can be had by everyone who makes turns down Bear’s trails, the resort displayed the serious snowboarding skills of its team in a lighthearted manner. Its ad showcases Joe Sexton, Scott Stevens, Brandon Hobush, Jordan Small, and others as trick-related spaces on a snowboarding board game. The motif of proper images and legendary pros combined with the illustrated game squares works—because what is snowboarding if it isn’t fun, right? —M.W.

 

 

BEST BRANDING IN OTHERS' ADS: TIMBERLINE, ORE.

The art of getting your brand natively placed in editorial typically sits with public relations, not advertising, but the strategies are similar for gaining brand impressions in advertising that isn’t yours. Timberline, Ore., has this game down to a science, thanks to its close proximity to a bunch of gear manufacturers and position as ground zero for pros using its parks for year-round training and filming. With all those cameras around, Timberline positions its logo on features, banners, etc. The result? Its logo is splashed all over print ads, ski movies, and more … and the resort doesn’t pay a dime for the exposure. Hosting some athletes or a brand for a photo shoot, and need some tips for how to maximize your exposure without getting in the way? If you quasi-copy Timberline’s onhill signage, you’ll be fine. —A.K.

 

 

BIGGEST MISSED OPPORTUNITY: ASPEN SNOWMASS, COLO.

“Hey, we need a two-page spread for Freeskier! Let’s use a ‘guy in the sky’ park shot of a skier doing a mute grab. Just make sure he’s not one of our nationally known athletes, and make sure we give the audience zero perspective on the fabulous park he’s actually skiing. Then, let’s link to a played-out campaign that we launched last season.” Really? All of those factors make this ad feel a bit “mailed in.” The parks, park scene, and park investment at Aspen are worthy of much better. —A.K.

 

 

BEST USE OF THE OBVIOUS: BIG SKY, MONT.

For at least the second year running, Big Sky used its visually stunning trail map in its large magazine spreads. Why not? Skiers love trail maps. They stop and look at them. Trail maps provide extra value on a page people often turn right past. In previous seasons, the entire two-page spread was Big Sky’s trail map with a bit of extra copy. This year, it was inset on a grander photo, but the effect is the same—it stops page-turners. Anything that gives your message a higher chance of being viewed slowly is a tool worth using. Trail maps add instant value to your ad creative, for first time and repeat visitors alike. —A.K.

 

 

WORST USE OF A FACE SHOT: CRESTED BUTTE, COLO.

Pow photos with no visual context are EVERYWHERE. It’s the amateur special. Twenty years ago, a photo like this might have been interesting. Nowadays, it’s just noise, akin to bad POV video. It has no reason to exist and is lost in a world full of more relevant content. Sorry, Crested Butte, you have far too much going for you to waste a page and a half spread on a photo void of identifiable perspective. You have an iconic mountain and an iconic town. You have eccentric people. You have an OMG trail map. You have direct flights. You don’t have I-70. Show me any of that, not your latest branding treatment on a photo that could have been shot at Holiday Valley, N.Y. (most years, anyway). —A.K.

 

 

TASTIEST CROSS PROMOTION: JAY PEAK, VT.

I’m flipping the pages of my local alt-weekly and, oops! Out falls a supermarket circular for Vermont’s trendiest grocer. Then I realize it’s promoting a new line of sandwiches named after popular trails at Jay Peak Resort. As we speed into the noisy “post-ad” world, this sort of tasty cross promo is what will keep its brand front of mind while maintaining pure word of mouth type credibility. And one of the sandwiches was a buffalo chicken, blue cheese, bacon combination. So there’s that. Hard cost? Likely zero. Stores like to sell sandwiches. This also fits with Jay’s theme of integrating with local partners in a chummy way rather than buying spots. —A.K.

 

BIGGEST SMALL OVERSIGHT: VAIL RESORTS

Lindsey Vonn is the biggest star in downhill skiing. She dated Tiger Woods, she’s been in the SI Swimsuit Issue, she has adoring fans. Some of those fans would love to have her phone number, for any number of reasons. Thanks to Vail Resorts’ Epic Life Magazine, they did (briefly). The table of contents features a full-page photo of Vonn snuggling her dog Leo, which is cute. In the photo, Leo’s dog tag is clearly visible. So visible you can make out Vonn’s phone number on it. The eraser tool would have come in handy here. But hey, props for being a responsible dog owner, Lindsey! —D.M.

 

 

BEST OMISSION OF A POWDER SHOT: ALTA, UTAH

Alta’s “Snow and…” print campaign is one of my favorites of the year. It highlighted what separates Alta and what makes skiers return each year. My favorite is the “Snow and Family” ad, where Lee and Sam Cohen are standing with arms around each other’s shoulders. The quote says, “I pulled into the parking lot at Alta for the first time 36 years ago … I stayed because Alta became my family.” Alta has always been known for legendary deep snow and a unique vibe, and this ad—sans powder shot—shows how happy folks are just to be there and underlies that sometimes, development and change aren’t necessary for success. —E.C.

 

 

BEST 50TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN: WHISTLER BLACKCOMB, B.C.

To celebrate Whistler Blackcomb’s 50th anniversary, the resort adorned most ski magazines with its 50 Years of Icons and Legends. The two-page spreads showcased Wayne Wong, Jim McConkey, Mike Douglas, Eric Hjorleifson, Eric Pehota, Olympic Gold Medalist Ashleigh McIvor, and many more, sitting in a gondola loading station. The collateral promoted its movie, 50 Years of Going Beyond, and emphasized that these pioneers, champions, and renegades were drawn to Whistler and helped shape the resort into what it is today. Bravo, Whistler, for recognizing the influential people who helped mold the resort and community. —E.C.

 

 

WORST 50TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN: JACKSON HOLE, WYO.

Jackson Hole’s history is as legendary as any resort on the planet—maybe even more legendary than Whistler Blackcomb. The perfect opportunity to celebrate that history came this past season, when the resort, like W/B, turned 50. But alas, the Jackson Hole Air Force—along with every other famous icon from the resort—was nowhere in sight in its Jackson 50: Born to be Wild print ad. Imagine if it featured Doug Coombs shredding in his signature, perfect style? Instead, Jackson boasted about its new dining options and lift. Nothing says wild like fancy dinners and expensive base area amenities. —E.C.