I’ve been talking a bit about golf this week. And while I was perusing old idea and mixing them with new, I stumbled onto this tweet.

Watching an online stream of the @PGAChampionship while I wrap up the week. For about 10 minutes the two commentators have just been riffing on how much they love the game and why and their favorite memories. It's simple, pure and honestly the best golf marketing I've ever seen.

— Gregg Blanchard (@slopefillers) May 17, 2019

I can still remember that moment and the feelings that surfaced as they spoke about the magical moments and fond memories they’d had on the course.

It was, and is, some of the strongest golf marketing I’ve ever seen.

What I’d Do
I haven’t done a “what i’d do” piece in a while, so I’ll change that with sharing how I’d turn this idea into a campaign at your resort this fall.

Step #1: Find a Spot
Find one of those spots at or near the summit where you can look over both the resort and the valley below. One of those places that make you want to slow down and just think for a minute. Then I’d grab some comfy chairs for me and my interviewees to sit in.

Step #2: Make a List
The I’d make a list of maybe 10-20 people who love skiing or the resort or the town or something. People who have a deeper relationship to skiing than just an activity they do on occasion during the winter. Mix up employees with local businesses and guests.

Step #3: Get Ready to Record
I’d then figure out a simple, one or two-person camera setup that’s going to give me a few angles to work with (close up of you, the interviewee, then wide shot showing both) but also give you really good audio (so I’d probably snag a couple lav mics).

Step #4: Talk
There wouldn’t be a canned agenda, we’d just talk about skiing. Why we love it. Favorite memories. Magical moments. What life would be like without it. I’d try to get past the superficial “it’s freedom” and get to the emotional, personal side. Their story and how it intersects with this sport.

Step #5: Edit
I’d cut a longer version for just audio and turn it into a podcast. Then I’d shoot for 3-5 minute video edit for YoUTube, Facebook, etc. And perhaps even a 60-second version or snippets I could post between releasing episodes to promote the previous one.

The Hope
The hope of this effort would be three fold:

• Share some positivity to combat the arguing and hate we see online
• Get people to recall and share their own moments and memories and reasons
• Have more marketing that is about emotion rather than facts

Would it work? Who knows, but it’s a combination of simple and relevant that I think it could have some legs. And if it doesn’t, the investment is low enough that there’s little harm done.

If it does work, however, there’s lots of potential to go bigger and better in terms of people, location, and production value.

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.