Most ski and snowboard publications released their gear guides this past month, officially kicking off the advertising season for the industry.
Whistler-Blackcomb has jumped in early with ads in most major ski magazines and a handful of snowboard magazines, while Tourism Whistler started its activities in Australia last month and is preparing to launch at targeted markets around the world in the coming months.
The message is mixed this year. There’s the usual bigger is better message, with references to Whistler’s size, views and second best snow season on record last year; but they also followed up with a value message that promotes early booking discounts and packages.
According to Stuart Rempel, senior vice-president of marketing and sales for Whistler-Blackcomb, the company is following a multi-part strategy this year.
“One part is to continue to focus on what differentiates us from other resorts, the kind of iconic brand advertising that pushes the incredible views and incredible mountains we have here — the size of the place and what that offers in terms of variety,” he said. “We’re really pushing on creating the dream… that people really have to come to this place. That will create the demand, and to fulfill the demand we also have a set of tactical ads at the back of ski magazines where we push the value message with great offers and great packages.”
According to Rempel there is also a third ad campaign in Ski magazine that shows off the new Symphony Express chair and newly dubbed Symphony Amphitheatre area.
“It opened last year, but to a lot of people out there it’s still news,” explained Rempel. “We made a $9.2 million investment in the lift, and for the majority of skiers in North America it’s still a new product that needs to be experienced. It’s also good to get the message out that we’re still growing and evolving, and that skiing here is a different experience today than it was the last time people may have come here.”
The campaign for snowboarders is also different than it is for skiers. In the upcoming Transworld Snowboarding, Whistler-Blackcomb has booked a double-page spread that features Leanne Pelosi and some pictures that she has taken.
“Magazines like Ski and Powder are for an older demographic, but they are still keen skiers, and still aficionados of the sport. Other magazines like Transworld and Freeskier have a younger demographic, as well as various snowboard publications, and we have different strategies for those publications,” said Rempel.
The youth strategy for this year is to direct readers to a website in development called Untrackedlines.com. According to Rempel, the site is an extension of Whistler-Blackcomb’s If Ullr Was a Girl contest, and will be populated by user-generated content that features Whistler-Blackcomb and members of their pro team. The pro team includes skiers like Dan Treadway, Ian McIntosh, Mark Abma and Sarah Burke, and snowboarders like Justin Lamoureux and Leanne Pelosi.
While the resort is in strong shape, coming off a record-setting summer and a strong winter with more than two million skier visits, the value message remains important, says Rempel. Rising gas prices, a strong Canadian dollar, and signs of a weakening economy are all potential obstacles for visitors, and discounts and package deals are one way around the obstacles.
“We have the branding element so people say “wow”… but we also want to get people to commit and to book early, and get the best possible price,” he said. “For the best possible prices, on package deals that include accommodation and lift tickets, the best time to book is before Nov. 15. There will still be great value after that point, but we really wanted to get the word out about deals that are available.”
Those deals include four nights of lodging and three days of skiing for as low as $80 per night, per person in the early season. Before Nov. 15, those packages are discounted by up to 33 per cent.
Rempel feels the resort has successfully shed the reputation for being an expensive destination in the regional and international market, which has helped Whistler recover from four tough years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — including the worst snow year on record.
“There is a lot more to value than just prices, and we offer incredible value here,” he said. “One part of value is the product, and we have an incredible product in the mountains. Another part is what kind of service we offer, and I think we have a great, friendly Canadian style. The other part of the value equation is what you pay for the product and service, and I think we are definitely comparable to other resorts who don’t have nearly what we have.
“The early indicators from our tour operators, travel partners, hotels and other channels is that our business is going forward, and that things are shaping up to be strong for Whistler. We’re coming out of a great winter, we have better air access from Australia and New Zealand and the U.K. We have a lot more good flights from L.A. and California, and the value story is working. We still have a long way to go, a lot of occupancy that we still need to fill, but we’re making progress.”
For Tourism Whistler, this winter’s ad campaigns will be a combination of value and the skiing experience, with ads geared to both hard-core skiers and snowboarders as well as more casual clients.
“We have started with a campaign launch in Australia, and our first (North American) magazine and newspaper ads will be coming out towards the end of the month for October,” said Ian Dunn, director of marketing services for Tourism Whistler.
“The overall message for our ads really focuses on trying to drive interest and awareness of Whistler as a mountain destination, and the brand of Whistler. The essence of that is energy, which is what our campaign is based around this year and is the same concept we used this summer.
“We’re supplementing that with more tactical messages, and value would be a major message with our book early and save campaign, which is in line with what Whistler-Blackcomb is promoting as well.”
One promotion that is gaining traction is offering free accommodation and lift tickets on Mondays to visitors who book through a weekend.
Getting people to Whistler is also part of Tourism Whistler’s efforts.
“One thing we’re really trying to tackle is air access, which is a major barrier for Whistler,” he said. “We’re trying to work with the airlines to secure aggressive rates on flights to Vancouver, and if we can secure those rates they will be in our advertising as well and in future packages. When you reduce the cost of a trip to Whistler, we will be more competitive with other destinations in the U.S.”
Tourism Whistler, with a “limited” budget of $2 million for advertising this winter, has had to be creative with its ad programs. As a result their ads have been custom-tailored to various markets and demographics.
“For Australia, it’s not an advanced skier market so the imagery we used is more of an intermediate level, compared to the type of image we might put in Ski or Outside,” said Dunn. “We change our message according to the markets, because markets do have specific needs. People travel for different lengths of time and offers will vary depending on that.
“We’re focusing on seven different geographical markets this year. Washington and B.C. are our regional market, and we only have a small investment in B.C. because we do work in coordination with Whistler-Blackcomb and they have a major investment in the region. We also are looking at Canadian markets in Ontario and Alberta, and in the U.S. our major focus is on California. Australia and the U.K. are our key overseas markets.”
Some of the advertising budget will also go to specialty television channels, as well as online advertising. New technology tracks the sites that people visit and how people navigate around various targeted websites that will in turn put ads for Whistler on the pages they are viewing.
As well as ensuring ads are targetted as specifically as possible, Tourism Whistler is leveraging its $2 million budget through partnerships with the Canadian Tourism Commission, Tourism B.C., and other resort partners. As a result the actual value of ads and marketing will easily exceed the $2 million budgeted this year.
Another good opportunity came as Whistler hosted the annual Mountain Travel Symposium during the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival this past April. The symposium brought industry buyers, sellers and agents from across North America to Whistler for four days of meetings and sales, raising the profile of the resort.
“Feedback has been great, we were able to forge some new relationships, and it will be interesting to see what the outcome will be this winter,” said Dunn.
The official opening day for both mountains is Nov. 22 this year, although early openings have been possible in recent years with a good early season snowpack. According to Rempel, Whistler-Blackcomb is poised to adjust its advertising strategy through the season depending on snow in Whistler and elsewhere.
“Once the season is underway and the early bookings are over, the snow plays a bigger factor for people deciding where to ski,” he said. “We can do a lot to promote the season before it starts and build momentum, but a lot of the time the challenge is keeping that momentum going through the winter into the spring.”
