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Growing the Sport
LEARN TO SKI & SNOWBOARD INITIATIVES
DELIVER IMPRESSIVE RESULTS

BY MARY JO TARALLO, LEARN TO SKI/SNOWBOARD MONTH/BRING A FRIEND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

THE COLLECTIVE, NATIONAL FOCUS on 2019 Learn to Ski & to all buying groups—SMC, NBS and Sports, Inc. Ikon
Snowboard Day as a component of Learn to Ski & Snowboard joined with PSIA-AASI and many retailers in effectively
Month paid off in strong participation at ski areas throughout using social media to attract the attention of newcomers
January. All told, some 6,200 beginner lessons were given on through “friends” already involved in the sports. Consumer
January 11, with the LSS Day marketing hook serving as a show producers like BeWi Productions included informa-
powerful promotional tool that ski areas used to encourage tion in their fall media pushes and SIA teamed up with
first-timers to come take a lesson. the Cross Country Ski Areas association to help include
This year’s total exceeds the estimated 6,000 lessons given cross country ski locations. National Ski Patrol reached out
in January 2016, when the industry vied to set a world record through its member network and used fall swaps to help
for the number of lessons given simultaneously at areas across reach the public.
the country. Both of these impressive totals underscore the The campaign generated considerable publicity for ski
impact that a national marketing campaign can have, partic- areas; PR value alone far outweighed the entire initiative
ularly when areas are given the flexibility to customize their budget, which is less than $150,000 nationally. TV coverage
own special offers under the LSS banner. for LSS during January resulted in an audience of 4,611,744,
Although organizers had not finalized at press time the with a publicity value of $657,706. The online audience
total number of beginner lessons delivered during January reach was 110,835,845, with a publicity value pegged
they estimate it to exceed 100,000. That put the overall total at $1,220,307. By the end of the month, LSSM PR had
beginner lessons delivered via LSSM programs to well over reached an audience of 115,447,589, with a publicity value
the 1 million mark. Only 42,750 lessons were needed at the of $1,886,611.
start of January to reach that mark. The overall PR budget for the January initiative
And there were other firsts. Cross-country skiing loca- was about $10,000, resulting in a return on investment of
tions were added to the mix, and a number of retailers and more than 18,000 percent. (For more final numbers, visit
other industry promoters rallied more than ever to spread nsaa.org to access the LSSM presentation given at the
the word to newcomers about the sports. A new poster NSAA winter shows.)
advertising the January 11 Learn to Ski or Snowboard Day Blue Mountain, Penn., had the largest number for its
popped up in shops across the country thanks to a joint targeted promotion, which was free. Other resorts posting
effort between Head Wintersports and the Sports Specialists very large numbers were: Chestnut Mountain, Ill.; Wachusett
Limited buying group. Mountain Mass.; Ski Butternut Mass; Mt. Hood Meadows,
Created by Cultivator Advertising and Design in Denver, Ore.; and Mountain Creek, New Jersey. Ski Utah arranged
CO, the posters were distributed to retailer partners belonging for 322 elementary-aged schoolchildren to participate in

Wachusett Mountain National Brotherhood of Skiers

44 | NSAA JOURNAL | SPRING 2019