Bear with me, this may ramble a bit. But I want you to try a mental exercise.

Ready?

Try to describe ski resorts with just one word without using any part of their name. Here’s my list:

• Beast
• Skiers
• Legend
• Corbet’s
• Tetons
• Unmatched

That’s about the best I can do with one word. For those of you playing along, the resorts I’m describing are Killington, Alta, Arapahoe Basin, Jackson Hole, Jackson Hole, and Telluride.

Two Words
Now try two words. Again, here’s my list including some of the originals narrowed down or clarified with an extra word.

• The Beast
• For Skiers
• The Legend
• Corbet’s Couloir
• The Tetons
• Single Chair
• Champagne Powder
• Happy Place
• Like Nothing
• Not Roughing
• Delirium Dive

The resorts behind the names being, in order; Killington, Alta, Arapahoe basin, Jackson Hole, Jackson Hole, Mad River Glen, Steamboat, Sunday River, Vail, Beaver Creek, Sunshine Village.

As I made that list I was struck by two things.

First, how short it was. I honestly thought I’d end up with 20-30 mountains. Three words, that list explodes. Two, very tough.

Second, how long my list for people was. Meaning, which of my friends have some simple thing associated with themselves that would let me easily identify them in 1-2 words. Even more, how necessary three words was for almost all of them.

For example, shopping carts = Joe Myers.

"Daddy, other people don't put their carts away. Why do we have to?"

"Because we're not animals, son. Because we're not animals."

— Joe Myers (@joeartdotcom) December 28, 2014

Red glasses = Adam Buchanan.

Who's going to #SMMW15? Me and my red glasses will be there.

— Adam Buchanan (@adam_buchanan) February 12, 2015

Wall sits = Krista Parry.

Today we danced while we #Wallsitwednesday. I was joined by @Lyn_Christian @linzstephenson pic.twitter.com/uUAso0fsBU

— Krista Parry (@kristaparry) June 16, 2016

That list could go on and on and on.

Puffy clouds or snow forecasts or french toast or sheep or trail running or whatever, it seemed every person I called a friend was paired with an idea that was part of their personal brand that let me quickly and easily recall them or be reminded of them when I saw that thing.

“That’s great and all, Gregg, but some resorts operate in smaller markets. What if you did the same for just Utah resorts?

Let’s try it.

Locally I know that “tram” is for Snowbird, “skiers” for Alta, “luxury” for Deer Valley, “no lines” or “honeycomb” would be Solitude, “snowboarding” for Brighton, “timp” for Sundance. But I had no word for Snowbasin, no word for Park City, no word for Brian Head, no word for Eagle Point, no word for Beaver Mountain, no word for Powder Mountain, no word for Cherry Peak, no word for Nordic Valley.

All of my friends have words. Half of Utah resorts, even locally, don’t.

The “Why”
So I started asking myself two questions.

Why do I have such specific concepts paired to some brands that help me recall and remember them and not for others?

The answer, it seemed, was incredibly simple and obvious. Resorts who I could remember a concept for had chosen something to be known for. Those I couldn’t, hadn’t.

It almost seemed that simple.

As I dug into their marketing, the messaging from resorts who hadn’t chosen a word may be best described by static. Just like this image below has lots of colors from all over the rainbow, these resorts talk about lots of different things from all across the industry.

The key here is that no color stands out, so one image of static looks just like another.

But resorts who had associated something with their name and brand looked like the image below. Instead of random topics from all over a spectrum, everything has a theme – a common tint.

There’s still variety, just as you’d want in your marketing messages, but they’re all built around a shared concept that helps the static look red (or blue or green or purple).

A Simple Idea
This is bordering on obvious in the branding world, so let me wrap this up with the idea I keep coming to.

It seems to me that people are naturally good and choosing things to be associated with. We take hobbies or sports or teams and make them a part of our identify. We’re not people, we’re cyclists, skiers, fathers, Mets fans, Deadheads. And once we let ourselves be truly passionate about something, it naturally shows up in everything we do and say and buy. It naturally becomes part of our brand.

Brands, while run by people, seem to struggle to follow suit.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this. Branding can feel daunting, but maybe it’s as simple as letting our brands fall in love with something. Letting our resorts get excited about some specific part of the experience. Or, in other words, not letting ourselves get in the way of something we’ve all seem to have mastered already.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.