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Growing the Sport

2017-18 GAME CHANGERS:

NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

FORM A MARKETING TRIFECTA

BY REBECCA W. AYERS, EDITOR

THE 2017-18 SKI AND SNOWBOARD season in the US brings is perfect—falling after the New Year’s holiday weekend
a confluence of three major events centered on snowsports, and before the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, and
providing resorts ample opportunities to put winter recre- continuing through February. The program not only is a
ation in the spotlight, add flair to their promotional efforts, great way to increase visits on days that are customarily slow
and develop future skiers and snowboarders. The events are: at resorts, but it also helps bring people into the fold early in
the season.
• BRING A FRIEND CHALLENGE WEEKEND, January 5–7, 2018 LSSM/BAF organizers have made it easy for their partner
• WORLD SNOW DAY, January 21, 2018 resorts to participate in these programs, providing a detailed
• OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES, PeyongChang South Korea, toolkit, colorful graphics, insightful research from the NSAA
February 9–25, 2018 Beginner Conversion Study, and other information that can
help ski areas connect with beginners. Partner resorts then
Learn to Ski and Snowboard national program organizers customize these materials to develop and promote their own
have dubbed this marketing windfall the Triple Play, and are special lesson packages and promotions—which the LSSM/
encouraging resorts to leverage these occasions to heighten BAF organizers will post on its popular national consumer-
the public’s interest in winter recreation and inspire existing oriented website learntoskiandsnowboard.org. It is the
skiers and snowboarders to share their passion for snowsports only website specifically targeting newcomers, but it also
with others. includes useful information for skiers and snowboarders with
experience. This exponentially increases exposure for ski area
BRING A FRIEND programs because so many people visit the site when looking
The first event, Bring a Friend Weekend (BAF), helps kick for information about learning programs and packages.
off Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM), now Since its inception, the LSSM/BAF initiative partners
th
celebrating its 10 season, and also the Bring a Friend have introduced more than 870,000 newcomers to the sports
Challenge. The increasingly popular BAF initiative is and the initiatives have generated more than $14 million
designed to incentivize current skiers/boarders to bring their dollars in revenue for the industry.
friends to the slopes for great experiences with professional Visit www.bringafriend.org and www.learntoskiansnow-
instructors. What better motivation is there for introduc- board.org for more details.
ing someone to the sport than the chance to win free gear
through the Bring a Friend Challenge, not to mention the WORLD SNOW DAY
promise of having a new skiing/riding buddy? Next on the calendar is World Snow Day on January 21,
The Challenge is conducted completely online at and for the first time in years this event falls on its very
bringafriend.org. Beginning January 5, 2018, the timing own weekend in the US. While hugely popular in Europe,

58 | NSAA JOURNAL | EARLY WINTER 2017