SkiCo’s marketing campaign focuses on what was and is

The Aspen Skiing Co.’s roll-out of its print advertising campaign for the 2011-12 season aims to capture a feeling of what the resort/community embraces and thus sets it apart from the rest.

The new concept, which was developed in the past couple of weeks by Christian Knapp, SkiCo’s new vice president of marketing, harkens back to the Aspen Idea, when visionaries Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke helped create a resort community that centered around mind, body and spirit.

The ads reflect what Aspen/Snowmass was before it was a ski town — full of history, culture, recreational opportunities and community. It’s an original. It’s an amazing playground, Knapp offered.

One ad reads in bold print: “Before Aspen, mountain was never cosmopolitan.” In smaller print below, a statement reads: “Very few places will you find ski bums sharing cocktails with jet setters. The heart of a city. The soul of a mountain town. This is Aspen/Snowmass.” The copy is laid out over large-scale imagery of people walking on the Cooper Avenue mall at Galena Street at night.

“It’s not the typical bluebird image, it’s more artistic,” Knapp said.

An ad for Snowmass shows a colorful photo of a little girl with bold print that reads: “Before Snowmass, happily ever after only happened in fairy tales.”

A third ad touts: “Before Aspen, winter was just cold.” The copy is laid over a skier making turns in gladed trees.

“[The campaign] puts a line in the sand that we are an innovator and different,” said Knapp, who has been on the job for a month and comes from Vail Resorts as Keystone’s top marketing guru. “What differentiates us from the others? What is the Aspen lifestyle?”

While the print ads are awaiting final approval, the SkiCo has bought space in the following publications: Outside magazine, Snow magazine, Mountain Sports + Living magazine, Transworld magazine and Freeskier magazine. The ads will run from October through February, Knapp said.

 Image courtesy of Aspen Skiing Co.
The advertising print campaign is just one aspect in the SkiCo’s vast marketing plan for the upcoming season. While the print buy has been scaled back, there will be a ramp-up in utilizing the digital world, through online advertising and search engine management, Knapp said.

He added that in the digital world, SkiCo can more easily get in front of a targeted, captive audience, and the results are trackable.

SkiCo is heavily invested in social media such as YouTube, Twitter and Foursquare, a location-based social networking website for mobile devices.

SkiCo’s presence on Facebook and the number of its followers need improvement, Knapp said, adding that it’s a focus this year, as is overhauling the aspensnowmass.com website. It’s currently being rebuilt and is expected to be launched in February, Knapp said.

Billboards focused on SkiCo’s Classic Pass, which offers four- and seven-day passes, will pop up on the Front Range, attempting to reel in weekend warriors who normally hit resorts along the I-70 corridor.

“The Classic Pass is an add-on” for Front Range residents, Knapp said.

Public relations efforts internationally are happening now — SkiCo is pitching journalists to come here and write about their experience.

“PR is a huge part of the job,” he said. “This is the time of the year to make the pitches.”

And SkiCo is working with local resort and government officials in their commitment to collectively provide tens of thousands of dollars in marketing efforts to American Airlines, which will enter the Aspen market for the first time this December, offering flights daily to and from Los Angeles and Dallas.

Those destinations open up the potential for more international tourists, Knapp noted. Key international markets for SkiCo are Brazil, Europe and Australia. He declined to reveal where marketing efforts are being made overseas, citing it’s proprietary. In other words, SkiCo does not want to tip off its competitors.

When all the efforts are combined, Knapp said SkiCo will succeed in getting its message and its product out there for the world to see.

“In marketing, there is no silver bullet,” he said “There is a lot to it.”

sack@aspendailynews.com

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StrongMail Expands Client Services Team to Help Marketers Drive Greater …

REDWOOD CITY, CA, Sep 06, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
StrongMail, a leading provider of interactive marketing solutions
for email marketing and social media, today announced the expansion
of its client services team, which now includes more than 70
experienced professionals providing StrongMail clients with strategic
account guidance and comprehensive agency, email deliverability and
technical services. By effectively aligning its services to meet the
needs of its fast-growing client-base, StrongMail is empowering its
clients to drive greater engagement and ROI through more relevant,
timely and integrated programs for email marketing, social media,
mobile and other emerging channels.

“As brands look to boost the performance of their existing email
marketing programs and successfully expand into new channels, it is
essential that they have access to an expansive set of services
delivered by true industry experts — and that’s exactly the kind of
team we’ve built here at StrongMail,” said Tal Nathan, vice president
of client services at StrongMail. “By wrapping StrongMail’s proven
technology with all the email marketing services a company needs to
exceed their marketing objectives, StrongMail provides marketers with
the ideal relationship for ensuring ongoing success.”

Since acquiring the New York-based interactive agency Magnetik in
July 2010, StrongMail has grown its agency services by 60% year over
year, including strategic, creative and full-service implementation
services. With the appointment of Chris Marriott as VP of Agency
Services announced earlier this month, StrongMail continues to invest
in providing enterprise-class services that enable its clients to
move interactive marketing to the center of their marketing strategy.

StrongMail’s comprehensive services also continue to provide critical
assistance in accessing the customer data that is necessary to drive
relevant and targeted campaigns, as well as the email deliverability
expertise to get those campaigns delivered to the inbox. By relying
on StrongMail’s products and services, StrongMail’s clients are
embracing new levels of automation and efficiency that are increasing
program performance while streamlining process and reducing costs.

The strength of StrongMail’s solutions, a world-class support
department and a thriving customer community are responsible for a
record renewal rate and an 89% customer satisfaction rating,
according to an August 2011 StrongMail customer survey. This
satisfaction is also validated by more than 30 successful upgrades to
StrongMail’s recent Message Studio 6.0 release within the last 60
days.

The rapid adoption of Message Studio 6.0 underscores the market need
for a powerful lifecycle marketing solution that makes it easy to
launch multi-step email marketing campaigns with drag-and-drop
simplicity. Today, nearly half of StrongMail customers are currently
using its technology to send sophisticated lifecycle marketing to
nurture customer relationships and drive higher conversions.

The success that StrongMail’s customers are having with its products
and services is exemplified by its 2011 Forrester Groundswell Award
nominations for Discover Financial Services and Castrol. Spark,
StrongMail’s customer community, is also nominated in the B2B
category for its success in helping to reduce StrongMail clients’ use
of technical support by 50%, while enabling them to maximize the
success of their interactive marketing programs.

About StrongMail Systems, Inc.
Every day, StrongMail is empowering
leading brands to engage and grow their customer base through email
marketing and social media. From the world’s largest enterprises to
the hottest daily deal sites, StrongMail is helping smart marketers
boost the performance of their programs with cutting-edge lifecycle
marketing capabilities and the ability to deliver millions of highly
personalized messages in minutes. Our products and services provide
end-to-end solutions for such notable brands as Travelocity, Netflix,
Macy’s, McAfee, Viacom and T. Rowe Price. Learn more at

www.strongmail.com , or follow us online at
www.twitter.com/StrongMail
or
www.facebook.com/StrongMail .

SOURCE: StrongMail

Copyright 2011 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.

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