By TOM WHARTON

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah’s famous snow has been in short supply this winter, but that won’t stop the Utah Office of Tourism from spending $1.2 million on television spots and billboards in Los Angeles and New York in the next few weeks.

Ski Utah communications director Jessica Kunzer said the timing of the campaign is important.

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"Whether the snow is what it is right now versus what it is normally, this is a key month for booking for the ski industry," she said. "We get a large amount of visitation between Presidents Day Week through the month of March into Easter. People are thinking about where they are booking. Los Angeles and New York are top [markets], and we are eager to get the message out to them now."

Officials hope that the warmer- and drier-than-normal weather pattern subsides. Kunzer said February and March tend to be the snowiest months of the year.

Utah resorts are mostly relying on man-made snow to cover runs, but more than 100 of the state’s 138 chairlifts are operating, serving 595 runs.

The ad money is being spent on television spots on two stations in New York and two in Los Angeles, as well as on digital billboards in the L.A. market.

According to Tracie Cayford of the Utah Office of Tourism, the television spots utilize the humorous snowflake campaign  of last year, although they have been retooled to reflect the office’s new website, www.visitingutah.com.

The electronic billboards are designed to look like a tweet on the social network site Twitter. One advantage of electronic billboards is that the message can be easily changed. For example, Cayford said that when Utah gets a particularly heavy snowfall during the campaign, the billboard can immediately promote that fact.

The Utah Office of Tourism is also focusing on increased social media efforts on YouTube and Facebook as part of the campaign, which will run through February.

"The ski industry is a key component to Utah’s $6.5 billion tourism industry, and we’ve experienced some record-breaking seasons since Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games," said Spencer Eccles, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Utah’s ski season officially began Nov. 10.