Holy smokes, there have been some seriously awesome resort videos series released this year. Right when I think there aren’t any new vids coming, another one appears to tickle my marketing fancies.

But, as I’ve watched I’ve also waited. Waited for a resort to do something that, at least to me, makes more sense as an approach.

Let me share five typical episodes from this year’s line-up to see if you see what I’m seeing:

Let’s recap that list quickly to see if this helps. In fact, let’s just recap the people whose stories are being told:

• Eric Hjorleifson, Pro Skier & Inventor / Jen Ashton, Pro Skier & Mentor
• Torin Yater-Wallace, Pro Skier
• Rowdy Roudebush, Long-Time Telluride Local
• Eddie Hunter, Long-Time Mt Norquay Local
• Matt Fackler, Breckenridge Business Owner

Are you seeing it? These are all destination resorts, but all the people telling the stories are locals.

In Other Words
Let me put it this way, are these videos trying to sell people on moving to a ski town, or vacationing to a ski resort?

A couple days after I wrote this post, another such video was released. As if this commenter were trying to support where my thoughts were going, this is what he said:

While that’s certainly positive feedback, it should also make us take a step back and ask whether these videos are sending the message we’re hoping for.

Value in Both
Are these great stories? Absolutely. And there’s a ton of value in letting the people who best know the town and mountain tell some of these stories.

But if my most valuable guest is a family of 6 from Dallas, what if we swapped out one story of a local and replaced it with theirs? What if living vicariously through the video didn’t involve also imagining a career change, but simply a different destination for the upcoming family trip?

Would it be harder? Of course. And there would surely be fewer powder slashes and cliff drops, but maybe that’s a good thing.

UPDATE: Wouldn’t you know it, three hours after this post was published Vail released something along these lines with a guy from San Diego and why he chooses Vail.

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.