Aspen made tickets $4, didn’t say a word, and the internet did the rest.
Gregg Blanchard /
Dropping ticket prices for a celebratory anniversary moment isn’t new. At least a handful of resorts have done that over the years. You set the price, tell the world, sell out, and it’s over.
Aspen, approaching their 80th season, took a different approach.
Instead of setting the price and telling the world, they didn’t tell anyone. Like, literally anyone. They made the change, sat back, and waiting. They didn’t have to wait long. Shopping, shocked at a day with a multi-hundred-dollar discount, started asking their following Redditor/skiers if this was for real. Before long, they’d gone as viral.
The resort eventually did fess up a few days and make a more traditional marketing/PR push around the promotion including the post above and coverage in traditional outlets.
But I love the way they played this card by turning their discount on a few days before making this push.
Resorts love reach, they love buzz, they love people talking about skiing in ways that doesn’t involve accidents and traffic. The internet, on the other hand, loves scandal, they love secrets, they thrive when there’s a little bit of uncertainty and people pick sides, they love to be the first to break something, to figure something out, to know something others don’t. They love calling folks out on mistakes. They love getting deals.
Aspen gave them exactly what they wanted and they, in turn, gave them exactly what Aspen wanted.
Super clever.