Nearly every marketer in the industry right now is pushing season passes. March was once about the transition from hard snow to slushy bumps. Now it’s all about the transition from this season to next and starting to lock in some revenue while folks are still thinking about the white stuff.

But there are still other goals, right? Goals like:

• Finishing off this season strong
• Getting low-use passholders to ski 1 or 2 more days
• The never ending battle to get folks outside

It’s why spring pass sales are so smart, but it’s also why an idea from Grouse Mountain is worth a closer look.

The Setup
Here’s how it works. Grouse’s winter pass product is called Y2Play. This pass product is also turning 20 years old this season (fist-bump for sticking with that brand for so long). So here’s what they did:

This year we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of Y2Play in a BIG way! Over the next 20 days you could win one of 20 Y2Play Passes up for grabs. All you have to do is stay tuned for our daily clue and be the first to locate a hidden pass on the Mountain. We’ll be sharing clues through our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories as well as right here on our website. Be the first to find the special 20th Anniversary Y2Play Pass in it’s hiding spot and you get to enjoy all the benefits of Y2Play for the upcoming season.

Kicked off on social with a prominent feature on the homepage…

…the contest was easy to play. A follow up post would announce the winners, and updates on the 20 Days of Free Y2Play page kept everything in one place.

Check, Check, Check
Remember some of those others goals I started with? Getting people outside, getting people to ski 1 or 2 more days, getting, ending the season strong?

Notice how neatly this campaign checks all three boxes. Specifically, notice two aspects:

1. You can only play if you come to the mountain
2. A free pass is valuable to anyone – day skiers or passholders alike

I think this is a really clever idea. I’m writing this on Day 4 of the contest, but it already appears to be getting some momentum (another fist-bump for giving it 20 days to gain that momentum, as things like this always do).

Well-designed, well-executed. Well done Grouse team.

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.