Forget the Ides of March; we dug into the Likes of March this year.
Let's peek at how you can harness the energy of fandom to create ecosystems of engagement.
Why? As experts in branding and destination marketing, we see so many brands. Regarding brand identity, the ski industry is fascinating because of the wide variety of styles, especially those resorts that have retained the same brand since they started, some as far back as the 50s.
Timeliness: Mirroring the NCAA's March Madness bracket was the perfect way to show all these logos together and in friendly competition.
Anticipation: By presenting March SnowMadness as an interactive voting game on IG Stories, we gathered participation by tagging those ski areas so they would share with their audiences. That also set up future participation as the rounds progressed.
What we learned: Most ski areas have a great core of fans willing to stand proud on social. Voting, sharing, visits, clicks— all these actions lead to more anticipation and participation.
Congratulations: This was no different from the NCAA competition and its upsets and buzzer-beaters. Established and oft-praised brand identities such as Killington, Snowbird, and Alta–expected to beat out virtual unknowns–were bested by smaller, lesser-known properties—those in locations note widely known with marks that haven't changed their brand in decades.