Snowbird Resort
Snowbird Resort
Snowbird Resort near Park City, UT had been losing ground to neighboring resorts like the ultra-lux Deer Valley and the fun-for-everyone Park City Mountain. In a scramble to keep up with their competitors, they ended up chasing audiences that they would ultimately disappoint. With steep, deep, challenging terrain and facilities that can’t hold a candle to the resources of a mega-resort, there was a stark difference in what they showed in their ads vs. what you experienced on-mountain.
Seems easy, right? (an old ad from the resort)
This led to some bad reviews. Lots of them.
We quickly realized that the problem wasn’t with the mountain itself, but with how they positioned themselves in a crowded market. Snowbird already had a solid base of hardcore powder hounds that turned their noses up at the forced fun of Park City and the pampered, gated community feeling of Deer Valley. This audience just wanted to ski; they didn’t care about anything else.
So we turned those negative reviews into a badge of honor, doubling down on the most hardcore fans and planting a stake in the ground: you should go to a ski resort to ski. The result is a nationally-covered viral ad campaign that rekindles a rebellious Us vs. Them mentality that hasn’t been exploited since snowboards first hit the slopes decades ago.
“I’ve heard Snowbird is a tough mountain, but this is ridiculous. It felt like every trail was a steep chute or littered with tree wells. How is anyone supposed to ride in that? Not fun!”
“Are the people who operate the grooming equipment on strike or something? Was hoping for a little more corduroy to dig my skis into.”
“We felt like our lives were in our own hands, Make a wrong turn and you’re stuck on a double black diamond. It took us 90 minutes to shimmy down the Peruvian Gulch before we could find a blue square that’s safe enough to ride.”