If there’s one marketing concept that absolutely clicked with my own behavior as a skier growing up, is the idea of aspirational brands.

The resorts you literally dream of visiting. When your brain needs that perfect setting for your nocturnal subconscious adventures, these resorts are the choice. For whatever reason, these mountains are just beyond reach. And that distance only makes the dream stronger, more tempting.

Whistler Blackcomb is absolutely one of those destinations and their latest ad campaign really leans into this idea.

It’s Time

What I love about this campaign is the confidence it implies in the perception of their brand. With just two words, skiers absolutely get what Whistler Blackcomb is referring to and, in so doing, resurfaces those aspiration.

It’s time.

That’s it. No other copy is necessary.

The message sits on a double page spread with at least the two variations shown above.

On-Brand Confidence

In fact, that confidence, interestingly, also feels on brand. If they came out with a line like:

“Have you ever dreamed of a Whistler Blackcomb vacation? Maybe it’s time to finally make it happen.”

Sure, it’s fine and all, but it admits that some people don’t dream of those vacation. It waffles on whether they should. It feels soft and optional and wishy-washy and like it’s something that should be somewhere on your bucket list but maybe not very high.

It’s the confidence in their aspirational status that sets the stage and, in my book, Whistler Blackcomb played to those emotions beautifully.

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.