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Potential of Ski Resort Sponsorship
A number of sports offer attractive demographics to potential sponsors, but for most of those sports, the demographics either refer to participants whom you cannot reach through sponsorship, or to spectators who view an event for two or three hours and then return home. There are some sports that deliver highly educated, high earners and provide a viable sponsorship environment to a marketer. Marathons come to mind, but during preparation leading up to the event, and in the midst of competition, are the runners actually impacted by your brand messaging? Ski resorts however, offer a fantastic environment for reaching an audience with strong buying power. Let's look at some of the factors that make ski resorts unique sponsorship venues:
Captive Audience: Once they reach their destination, most skiers and snowboarders remain at the venue for seven or more hours. Find me a traditional sports venue that can keep fans around, or wants fans to remain on site for that long! The key challenge is to find multiple, unique ways to reach these consumers as they make their way through a ski resort. When consumers head to the mountains, they go to escape - from work and other pressures. They likely do not want to be bombarded with unabashed marketing messages, so attention-grabbing signage might not be the right move. Subtle, but strategically placed signage in high-traffic areas, and sampling and product testing in base areas or lodges are likely to be better received.
Year-Round Audience: Most regional and destination ski resorts are no longer one- or two-season venues. In fact, many resorts have been transformed into four-season playgrounds that attract golf fanatics, mountain bike enthusiasts, hikers, and leaf peepers. Most destination resorts, where these recreation lovers typically fly to and stay for three or more days at a time, attract more visitors than NBA, NHL and NFL teams draw in season attendance.
Geographic Reach: Many resorts are now part of conglomerates that own a handful of properties. Some of these companies are regional, while others have a much wider geographic footprint. Some concentrate their holdings in destination resorts, and others own properties close to large metropolitan areas. This last group tends to draw significant numbers of day visitors returning many times over the course of a year or holding season passes. The takeaway here is that marketers can support a regional or national campaign or product launch through sponsorship across a resort company's holdings.
While ski resorts provide a unique sponsorship platform, these venues might not be conducive to sponsorship in some product categories. Furthermore, the demographic profile of participants in many ski resort activities may not be a match for your target audience. Average lift ticket prices in the U.S. are comparable to ticket prices at major pro sports events, which means that middle class families are getting squeezed out of the experience at mountain resorts, much as they are in arenas and stadiums.
