Ski Industry Seeks a Lift via Promotion

When it comes to advertising, it usually doesn’t pay to pitch what you haven’t got. So while winter storms have blessed most California ski resorts, La Nina weather patterns have played havoc with snow levels elsewhere in the country. And late last month, the National Ski Areas Assn. reluctantly put a $20-million image campaign on hold until Mother Nature gets on board.

The costly advertising campaign developed by San Francisco-based ad agency Leagas Delaney was to be funded by competing resorts nationwide that hope to reignite interest among 22.5 million lapsed skiers and snowboarders. While the ads will remain on hold for a year, observers say the campaign shows that the historically fragmented industry recognizes the need for a national advertising campaign.

“We’re basically a flat industry and have been a flat industry as far as attendance for the past 10 years,” said Julie Maurer, marketing director for Truckee, Calif.-based Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., which owns eight ski resorts nationwide, including Big Bear Mountain Resort, one of Southern California’s premiere ski areas.

In the short term, resorts need plenty of white stuff--such as the snowfall earlier this week that gave Southern California resorts a much-needed dusting--to get turnstiles spinning. But the longer-term outlook for the industry will require more than one good winter season.

The number of mountain-resort visitors has been stalled at about 54 million for much of the decade. Resorts have enjoyed a boost from snowboarders, but the number of alpine, or downhill, skiers has fallen to 8.9 million from 11.4 million in 1990. Similarly, the number of resorts has tumbled to 521 from more than 700 in 1970.

Although operators are excited by the prospect of reviving interest among dormant skiers, they grow downright giddy while discussing the 50 million “echo boomers” who are starting to choose sports and lifestyle options. “We definitely view the boomers’ kids now entering the pipeline as an incredible opportunity,” Maurer said. “If we can get them interested in winter sports, we’ll have incredible growth.”

The industry yearns for a return to the halcyon days of the 1960s and 1970s, when baby boomers flocked to ski resorts, prompting operators to adopt a “build it and they will come” mentality. But marketers acknowledge that it won’t be easy for resorts to lure echo boomers.

“There are so many activities that kids can be involved with every single day of the week,” said Tim Garrett, a vice president with McElroy Communications Inc., a Newport Beach-based company that is developing youth-oriented advertising for the National Ski Areas Assn. “And you can’t just sell the activity of skiing or snowboarding. You have to sell the whole lifestyle.”

Destinations such as Mammoth Mountain are trying to reach echo boomers with pub crawls, concerts and extreme sports contests to draw skiers, boarders and kids who simply enjoy the lifestyle. Resorts such as Big Bear are refining sophisticated Internet sites with Web cams and real-time weather reports to stay in sync with techies who won’t wait for the evening news.

Operators also are borrowing proven marketing gimmicks to forge stronger relationships with their best customers. Most resorts now boast corporate marketing partnerships with companies such as Ford Motor Co., Coca-Cola Co. and Yahoo Inc.

Big Bear’s “Vertical Plus” program, which is patterned after airlines’ frequent-flier programs, uses a microchip embedded in a wristband to tally how much time skiers and snowboarders spend on the slopes--and rewards them with discounted merchandise, food and passes.

And the national group also is promoting Levi’s Sno-Core tour, a music and lifestyle show that recently stopped in Los Angeles.

The National Ski Areas Assn.’s youth-oriented advertising is paid for by individual resorts that are pooling funds. That might not have happened in the past. But the industry is being reshaped by an ongoing industry consolidation that is producing a new breed of resort operators such as Vail Resorts Inc., Intrawest Corp., American Skiing Co. and Booth Creek. While resorts still view one another as competitors, many now agree that the industry needs to bolster its overall image.

“The larger destination resorts now know that the small and medium-sized ski areas are critical to their future success, because kids don’t typically learn to ski at large destination resorts,” Maurer said. “They learn at a resort close to where they live. Then they graduate to a regional destination and finally move on to the destination resorts.”

Ski resorts also are learning to compete in an increasingly global environment. Domestic resort operators, for example, have watched glumly as savvy skiers and snowboarders use historically low exchange rates to enjoy vacations at glamorous destinations such as Whistler and Blackcomb in British Columbia.

The new emphasis on international travel also extends to Europe and Japan. Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industry Assn., said that “this organization used to spend maybe 2% of its time on international marketing. Now, probably 25% of what we do involves foreign travelers.”

Closer to home, the ski industry is expanding advertising aimed at fast-growing ethnic groups. In Southern California that translates into increased radio and print advertising in Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Japanese.

Not Just Skis, but All Things Snow

Winter resorts once were content to describe themselves as ski centers. Now they’re scrambling to find a magical marketing phrase that conveys the wealth of winter sports and lifestyle activities found on mountaintops. Two years ago, the state ski organization shifted its marketing emphasis to “California Snow,” rather than highlighting individual sports. Said Maurer: “We’re in the winter recreation business now, not necessarily the ski/snowboard industry.”

At one extreme are wilderness enthusiasts who simply want to get away. Sales of back-country skis are skyrocketing, and sales of snowshoes mushroomed by 236% in 1998. Then there are the “low-skill, high-thrill sensations,” including ski bikes, snow scooters and big round balls that carry thrill-seekers on a wild, hillside ride.

Resorts aren’t forgetting baby boomers. Thanks to high-speed lifts, boomers can cram more skiing into fewer hours. But many aging skiers can no longer ignore creaking knees and aching backs, so resorts are improving their restaurants, adding mountaintop business centers and increasing entertainment.

“They’re here to ski or snowboard, but the challenge is to keep them busy the rest of the time,” said Carl Ribaudo, president of Strategic Marketing Group, which operates Ski Lake Tahoe, a marketing consortium consisting of six top Lake Tahoe resorts.

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Downhill Drift

Marketing and advertising are becoming as important as snow for winter resorts, where consumer interest has been flat for years. Resorts are marketing themselves to lapsed skiers and snowboarders as well as to 50 million “echo boomers” -- baby boomers’ children -- who will be entering the market for sports and lifestyle activities during coming years.

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Participants in U.S. Snow S In millionsports’

Alpine skiers: 1997: 8.9 million

Cross-country skiers: 2.5 million

Snowboarders: 2.5 million

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Visits to U.S. Mountain Resorts In millions

1997-98: 53.8 million

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Sources: National Sporting Goods Assn., National Ski Areas Assn.