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By popular demand, the snowflake characters will be back in new situations promoting Utah skiing when the Utah Office of Tourism's winter advertising campaign runs in January on 13 national cable channels.
Meeting Thursday at Brian Head ski resort above Parowan, the state Board of Tourism Development approved spending almost $1.1 million, up slightly from last year's cable pitch.
The 30-second commercials will be shown Jan. 2-23 on cable channels that appeal to people with families, who are adventurous and have the financial means to vacation in places such as ski resorts.
As has been the case in recent years, state money will be spent on television advertising for Utah's $1 billion-a-year ski industry. Print and online advertising and special promotions will be the focus of convention and visitors bureaus in ski communities and Ski Utah, the marketing arm of the state's 13 active resorts.
"Ski Utah and our partners are working closely with the state to coordinate their print and online ads to leverage our marketing dollars," said Leigh von der Esch, the Tourism Office's managing director.
Reviews of the first two year's use of the personable snowflake characters were positive, market analysts have told tourism officials. So the agency instructed Struck/Axiom, the Salt Lake City-based advertising agency that developed them, to create several new commercials about skiing and boarding in Utah.
"The spots will emphasize Utah's accessibility and the close proximity of our resorts to Salt Lake City International Airport with a humorous touch that breaks us out of the clutter of winter campaigns," von der Esch said.
The ads will be unveiled Nov. 17 at the state Capitol.
Ski Utah President Nathan Rafferty was pleased with the decision to continue selling skiing with snowflakes, emblematic of the Utah's trademarked theme of having "The Greatest Snow on Earth."
"Struck was right on with the snowflake ads they came up with in the past, which were a huge hit," he said. "We wanted to stay in the same vein. We've seen some rough cuts of the ads, and they're hilarious. They'll do well."
Just a few years ago, the state launched its winter ad campaign in late fall. But like last year, this winter's run will be in January, in line with a trend that has found more ski vacationers making reservations closer to their trip dates.
"We have seen the booking window shrink so much," Rafferty said. "Christmas reservations are made long in advance. But until people get past the holidays, they're not thinking yet of their ski vacation, which usually is in February or March.
"When these ads start in January, they'll be back at work and thinking about vacation. We want people to see these ads, get on our website and see that we have a lot of snow, which we can almost always guarantee in January," he added. "Then they'll know Utah is the place to ski."
Cable buy
The Utah Office of Tourism will spend $1.1 million in January on 13 national cable channels to advertise Utah skiing: A&E, Bravo, ESPN, ESPN2, Food Network, Fox News, History, MSNBC, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Planet Green, Investigation Discovery and Discovery Science.