Snowmass. It’s a word you practically never hear without the word “Aspen” directly before it. Sometimes that’s fine. After all, Aspen has gravity. Panache. The ability to attract visitors from all over the world to the idyllic mountain valley it shares with its sister mountain.
Channel the metaphysical, emotional and existential to show potential visitors another side of themselves that can only emerge in Snowmass.
We started by engaging all key stakeholders—from the lodging industry, to the retail partners, from the Aspen Ski Company to the restaurateurs, the community, the media and beyond—to align on what makes Snowmass so uniquely Snowmass. And, while we were at it, uncovering the true soul of the mountain destination.
Time and time again, we heard—both from key industry partners as well as from current and previous visitors—the geography crafted the experience and changed those who experienced it for the better.
Snowmass is built carefully into the side of a valley. It’s nestled in the trees and surrounded by nature. Over and over again, people told us they come not to see-and-be-seen, but to discover things buried deep inside themselves. From this truth, we created the platform Embraced by Nature.
The days of the traditional purchase funnel are fading away. Today, customer messaging should be based on behavior. That means one person’s first-ever exposure to Snowmass is as likely to be a text ad as it is a TV spot. So our teams worked together to fill in ecosystems that shorten that path to conversion.
This is where VJ’s process comes to life, as we plot the moments where people are most likely to be receptive to our message. And then match those moments with an understanding of what consumers need to hear. We know, life can be hard, and people are stressed out, so we made it our personal mission to make their lives a little more magical.
In our media approach, we needed to make every dollar work hard, and in the right places. We began our geographic market selection by aligning our target audience with direct-flight access into Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. This access scenario varied for summer and winter travel, so our market and media selection followed suit. In large DMAs, we further refined our ad delivery by ranking our different audiences and speaking only to those with the highest likelihood of conversion.
To help convert the right traveler mindset to Snowmass, we channeled the metaphysical, emotional and existential to show potential visitors another side of themselves that can only emerge in Snowmass.
To stay true to Snowmass, and differentiate the destination from the rest, we decided to push further into the metaphysical ways that its intimate landscape can change you. And doing so, we would introduce America to a different version of themselves. It’s the part of you that howls at the moon, tangos with the wind, and leaves that “shh” library voice way behind. Your Outside Side, as it were.
The Outside Side features a disruptive, whimsical visual style. It’s an invitation, not only to a physical place, but to a transformative inward experience. The Outside Side campaign builds human personality from the natural and man-made wonders that this mountain playground puts at visitors’ very fingertips. Several Snowmass landmarks feature prominently in the campaign as custom-designed characters who challenge consumers with statements like:
It’s as much a collection of art as it is advertising. Using a mix of print, high-impact (yet targeted) digital, and always-on social and search, we invited audiences to come face-to-face with the side of themselves that only nature, and truly only Snowmass, can reveal. And it worked.
There’s something going on every weekend in Snowmass. Some of those events sell themselves, but others have contracted support that Snowmass Tourism must deliver on. Other events simply help paint the portrait of Snowmass as the type of place where someone can find their Outside Side.
More people made their way to Snowmass. And once they met their Outside Side, they came again and again. In terms of pure impact, the campaign created 61.7% average occupancy rates, 260% increase in Snowmass Tourism on-site engagement, #1 in occupancy in the Rocky Mountain West following the campaign launch (as measured by Destimetrics).
