I’d heard that the format would be a little larger than I was expecting when I subscribed to Mike Rogge’s revival of Mountain Gazette last year, and the rumors were true.

At 11″x16.5″ it dwarfs other magazines.

Even more, most of the ads are spreads that take full advantage of the real estate. Two this month highlight the potential of this format.

Jackson Hole

The first is Jackson Hole going with a design that takes full advantage of the specs. A giant word “MORE” that measures almost 20″ edge to edge sits rigth inside from the front cover.

Alta

Alta goes with another of their classic, minimalist ads where the pictures do all the talking. And when the picture measures 22″ x 16.5″? Yeah, hard to miss.

It may be hard to tell just how big those are, so let’s toss a full page ad from a normal magazine on top of that for context.

Not bad, eh?

These two brands have both advertised in Mountain Gazette before (Alta in 196, Jackson Hole in 197) but I hadn’t seen both with a full spread right up front.

Recognize Opportunity

So much of marketing is doing the work, repeating the steps that have worked in the past. But every once in a while marketing is about being about to get your brain out of the box-checking groove and spot unproven opportunities that, yeah, take a little more work on the front end (and carry a little more risk in the middle) but hold the potential for something special.

This is one of those opportunities.

And given Rogge’s success and growth with Mountain Gazette and the head-turning presentation of ads this size, these bets from Alta and Jackson Hole absolutely paid off.

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.