We’ve got a few new messages to tell, don’t we?

Whether it’s helping skiers wrap their heads around making reservations for skiing instead of buying tickets, entering a lottery instead of a guaranteed day on the slopes, or reminding of guidelines to keep folks save around other people instead of just around the mountain…well…these can be uncharted waters.

As I mentioned yesterday, with new markets comes the need for new products. And with the need for new messages, there comes the need for new methods.

To Seal or Not to Seal
One of the things Kurt and I talked about in the Kitchen Table chats early on was the idea of supporting these new messages with industry-wide campaigns, imagery, or names.

As we were starting to talk about doing so, two resorts already had something in the works. In both cases, they used two things:

• A name
• A seal/logo

The goal? Pretty simple: help get these messages to stick.

Mt Rose
First up is Mt Rose. In this case, their concept is the Rose Pass Safeguard and a simple, but fairly unique, mark to match.

But I think it’s also important to note that they boiled down the message to a single, clear promise as well:

“We want to instill full confidence in your pass purchase with our Rose Pass SafeGuard. When you buy a season pass, you’ll have until Dec. 15, 2020 to get a full refund.”

Crystal Clean
On the lodging side, Crystal Mountain went with a concept called Crystal Clean (their name giving them a nice word to play with) with a well-designed seal to match.

In Crystal’s case, the message was a bit more complex. They’re trying to convey a long list of changes they’ve made to things like:

• Cleaning regimens and technologies
• Contact with other guests
• Check-in procedures
• Employee training
• In-resort activities

Helpful?
In both cases, I think the combination of seal + name works surprisingly well.

For the simple promise in the case of Mt Rose, it gives that message a handy, visual companion to remind skiers without having to talk about dates and refunds over and over again. In the case of Crystal, I think it does a great job of condensing all of their changes into a simple, memorable idea.

And the strength of that idea, I believe, lies heavily in the fact that even if you don’t read their list of changes, you still get some of the message from the seal and name alone.

Yes or No
Do you need a seal? It likely depends on what kind of messages you’re putting out there.

In all cases? Probably not.

But if you’ve got a message that you really need to stick? Or perhaps one that represents a long list of useful tidbits? Might be worth following Mt Rose and Crystal Mountain’s lead and considering adding this tool to your marketing arsenal.

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.