Two very different video marketing tactics going head to head. Not just on the same page, but one after the other. But which is more effective? Which, when you look at ROI and the nickels and dimes of the deal, comes out on top? Here’s how it worked. By the way, the video is posted above but the ad won’t show up on the embedded version. Here is the original.

Whitefish created a short video and is paying a $40 CPM for it to play before videos on the SnowboarderMag website. One of the videos it is playing before is the recap of this year’s “Boxzilla” setup at Canyons. On the one hand you are paying $40 for a guaranteed number of views. On the other, you are paying maybe a few hundred for the labor costs of your park crew to moving your boxes into a line. Whitefish didn’t have to pay much for their video creation. Neither did Canyons. Both are being viewed thousands of times.

So which is better? Is the Whitefish video ignored because it is an “ad”? Is the Canyons video just a gimmick that is fun to watch but doesn’t do much else?

If I had to choose one or the other, I’d choose the later. I could be wrong, but here’s why.

• When Whitefish made there video, no extra tickets were sold, no buzz was generated on the web, they just made it.
• When Canyons made their video, it was recording an event that did generate ticket sales and did give a reason build buzz in the community and on the web.
• When the advertising budget for this video promo is dried up, the impact stops for Whitefish.
• Not so for the Canyons. This video will continue to be viewed. The Boxzilla 2010 video on YouTube has 45k views. Not bad.

Which would you choose? The safer, pay-as-you go guaranteed views route or the riskier, create an event / semi-viral video option?

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.