Jay Peak Extreme Ski Comp

[riverc0il]

see it not just about the averge joe skier but the average joe. they are the ones that watch tv, buy quicksilver tshirts;shorts, get their daughters roxy clothing but that would be the point of bringing in sponsers that are not directly related to the event.

i do think combining a buch events would work but now you are getting into winter x game territory and that is almost played out. you would have to be carefull of how you marketed en event such as that. but for the purposes of the conversation haveing those different events would dilute what you are trying to market to possible sponsers.

it would be a good event fun to hang out and watch

I guess we are looking at it from different perspectives. The events only big enough skiing/riding events to sell to the non-skiing population are stuff like the x-games and the Olympics. Skiing on television has rapidly decreased over the last dozen years. Average Joe really doesn't care, especially for a small time eastern event.

x-games is exactly my thought regarding a massive cross pollination of events over a set period of time. Though in the x-games, you have atheletes specialize whereas I am thinking of crossing over events so sponsors max out their promotion dollars. The same promotion for a brand of ski or board would work for all aspects of the competition if every competitor is involved with each event as a total skier/rider judgment, a la MRG's Triple Crown. MRG gets a lot of really good sponsors for their Triple Crown..... check out their web site and take a look.

 

[Robert Goulet]

It doesn't really matter how many or what sponsors they have, it's how much they give to provide the needed money for advertising and exposure...

 

[hardline]

I guess we are looking at it from different perspectives. The events only big enough skiing/riding events to sell to the non-skiing population are stuff like the x-games and the Olympics. Skiing on television has rapidly decreased over the last dozen years. Average Joe really doesn't care, especially for a small time eastern event.

x-games is exactly my thought regarding a massive cross pollination of events over a set period of time. Though in the x-games, you have atheletes specialize whereas I am thinking of crossing over events so sponsors max out their promotion dollars. The same promotion for a brand of ski or board would work for all aspects of the competition if every competitor is involved with each event as a total skier/rider judgment, a la MRG's Triple Crown. MRG gets a lot of really good sponsors for their Triple Crown..... check out their web site and take a look.

ya i guess. i am looking at it from the point of taking a small eastern event and marketing it to a larger market. which would take 3 years min but you could make the event into a deacent marketing platform for companies to have access to a market they would normally have access to.

It doesn't really matter how many or what sponsors they have, it's how much they give to provide the needed money for advertising and exposure...

your right. thats where being able to pitch the event to the proper sponsers comes in. one thing i have a lot of experiance with getting companies excited about new marketing platforms. as a sidenote i have never paid a cent for any advertising it is all paid for by the manufacturers of the equipment i use.

 

[Robert Goulet]

Marketing departments are spending their most marketing dollars on Joe Average skier. Those are the skiers and riders going less than half a dozen times per year, pre-booking vacations, taking family, etc. The bread and butter of the industry.

By this reasoning, then, they shouldn't market park skiing, etc. Anything outside of your bread and butter, unless it can secure a return. Well, big mountain events do draw the average joe to watch because it creates an image for a given ski area. The fact that a certain mountain has an extreme skiing comp out east, says somthing about the mountain.

Personally, I just don't see a lot to be gained by big companies spending big dollars to sponsor sparsely attended extreme events. Why would any one want to watch an extreme comp on Jay's face in the dead of winter? Especially when only 10 or so competitors are going big, conditions dependent. I just don't see it as making much financial sense.

The reason it would work in the east is that no one sees stuff like this around. It is new, fresh, interesting. Most eastern skier don't ski the face in crappy conditions, let alone make it look easy, and/or do something on the terrain they didn't think people did out east.

Personally, I'd rather be in the trees smoking out some powder. The marketing guys are going to see low attendance and ask why bother?

Events that have no marketing don't see high attendance. When I was standing at the bottom of my run at Jay, people were skiing by wondering what the hell 25 people were doing standing around looking up toward the tram. Some of the people who saw what was going on stayed and watched for a while. There were no banners, there was no announcer, and there were no indications at the base lodge that there was a freeski comp going on up the mountain. People just had no clue, that's why it was poorly attended.


I certainly don't put my marketing dollars for my business behind low exposure low attendance specialized events when I could be doing marketing towards the bread and butter of my business at much more cost effective rates per exposure.

More than 2/3 of the people that stayed at the Alta Lodge (where I worked last two seasons), don't even ski on anything but groomers and mellow terrain. They go there because they think it is the coolest and best place to go. Likewise, showing off a mountain as being cool, extreme, etc has a marketing effect on people who don't even partake in those activities.

Eastern areas just don't have much of a venue for these types of things. Not enough open exposure and inconsistent conditions. I don't think Jay has provided much hype to get the people there but who is the target market? Hardcore skiers? I'd rather be skiing. Families? They are on the bunny slopes and it is too cold and windy at the top of the Freezer to hang out and watch dangerous activities that could form impressions on the young kids.

You're right that eastern areas don't have a lot of options for this kind of event. But some do. Jay does, Stowe does, Hell, you could do one in Tucks ( I understand there is a lot more to this then just saying 'lets do it'). Besides, when you mention "Hardcore skiers" you are confusing those who will participate and the target audience. The target audience at all these events is the average skier who sees something that they think is incredible. Ask anyone at MSI, who do the USFreeskiing events. Most people who watch these events (especially the case when I was at the Taos comp this winter) aren't hardcore skiers, or at least good enough to ski in the events. All you have to do is listen to the announcers at these events to know that they are maketing toward your average skier. Plus, weather is a factor in every ski area event, suggesting that it is an added disincentive at Jay, as opposed to anywhere else, is not really true.

What I would do is combine multiple specialized aspects of the activity into a big weekend. Combine the Extreme Comp with the powder 8s (lol) and the Rando Race and the park comp. Make it a huge weekend and get all these special interest groups cross pollinating and checking each other out and make it a festive event. That would be an event worth sponsoring and marketing and hyping. Do the MRG Triple Crown style in which a competitor has to do multiple events on different days. Who cares if a Rando Racer can high tail it up the mountain and survive bumps on skinny skis and light gear. Can they huck in the park the next day or take a knarly line down the face after skinning to the summit. F the Rando Race man, inject some spirit into that crap and make it interesting. Let's see the skinny ski three buckle racers side slip down the face and take a few hucks in the park! Now we are talking, now there's an event!

I actually really like this idea. The triple crown is cool, but it would be great to combine everything in one big event that is held over 2-4 days.

Anyways, don't take anything I've said on this topic personally, at all. I don't mean to break apart your arguement as much as try to dispell a lot of the reasons I hear against a freeski comp in the east. Obviously, I'm biased because I do freeski comps and I really like them, and I've seen how big they are getting out west. Bigger sponsors, HUGE attendance, etc. I don't think that anything out east could ever get that big (except maybe if there was one held in Tucks), but I really think that not only could the Jay comp be a lot bigger, but also that it would have a good marketing effect on Jay's target market.
I'll shut up now. My 2 Cents. Again, really don't take this personally RivercOil, I know you are a good skier, who's been around and skis a lot, and I do respect your opinions.

 

[Robert Goulet]

Most of my comments above are located in the quote box, referring to specific parts

 

[ski220]

Personally, I'd rather be in the trees smoking out....

Me too!!! But I'd be willing to watch them huck a few for the entertainment factor.

 

[riverc0il]

No worries. Nothing taken personally at all. This place is made for opinions that I disagree with :lol:

 

[hardline]

this is a great thread. dont they hold a comp at tucks and isnt a huge cluster fu@#

 

[riverc0il]

The Inferno race is held at Tucks but it is not an extreme comp. It is the last leg of a paddle/bike/hike/ski combo thingy. Gates are set for the race, usually in Left Gully but I think they did Hillman's too recently.