Recently on both Facebook and Twitter, Mount Snow shared a little secret: they were cooking up a Foursquare campaign, one of the first for a resort of their size. The talk about “gamification” has increased steadily during the last little while. Even, a non-resort marketer that is now with EA Sports, Marc-Oliver Gern, said that if he were a resort marketer, one of the first things he’d do is build game mechanics into many facets of the ski experience. With Foursquare sitting as one of the prime examples of gamification, it’s no wonder why they’d jump on an opportunity like this. Here are the details from Mount Snow’s Dan Gullotti:

SlopeFillers: Where did the idea come from and what are the basic elements and goals of your Foursquare campaign?
Dan: We have a pretty unique opportunity because Dennis Crowley (co-founder of Foursquare) is a passholder and owns a house at Mount Snow. We approached them about doing something, and they jumped on it. Actually, they emailed us on the same day asking the same thing! Foursquare Brand Pages are typically reserved for huge brands, but they have been branching out into ski resorts as sort of a special project. There are currently only a few resorts in North America, and Mount Snow is by far the smallest resort.

The basic elements of the campaign will be standard to Foursquare users. Unlock our Mount Snow badge, check in at all our venues around the resort and get Specials on retail, dining, etc. It should be a fun and unique way to really get to know our resort.

SlopeFillers: I’ve noticed you’ve announced the campaign on Twitter and Facebook, have you gotten any feedback from your skiers and boarders about the upcoming campaign? If so, what is the vibe they are sending?
Dan: So far the feedback has been positive, but it’s not until people start unlocking deals that I think we’ll get the true feedback. We’ve seen a lot of retweets and ‘likes’ on the very few mentions we’ve made of the campaign.

SlopeFillers: Ok, so you’ll have places to check in and earn badges, what are you plans to promote this campaign both online and with at-resort signage?
Dan: Every Venue will have a Foursquare window cling / sticker that mentions you can check in there. We’re also putting up supporting graphics on our Base Lodge TV screens, on lift towers and I plan on putting up some digital billboards soon.

Also, we’re doing some very high profile Mayor perks that will be quite noticeable for people who frequent the resort.

SlopeFillers: Any peek inside what deals and badges you’ll be offering as well as those mayor “perks” you mentioned?
Dan: We’ll be doing a bunch of different deals at food & beverage outlets. Retail discounts. Deals on Tubing. Discounts at our naturespa, etc… At some venues, we’re hoping to do tiered discounts with the # of friends you check in with.

The big perk for the mayor of Mount Snow Resort as well as Carinthia Parks Base Lodge will be a reserved parking spot.

SlopeFillers: Wow, a reserved spot, not bad :) What do you foresee as the biggest benefits this will have for Mount Snow from a marketing perspective?
Dan: The campaign as a whole is great visibility for us, as there aren’t any other resorts in our area doing something similar. We’re hoping that it will cause our guests to seek out some of the lesser known venues at the resort and discover some new favorites.

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.