Sunlight Mountain Resort
Each spring, the U.S. ski industry bestows special recognition for ski area operators, and last week Sunlight Mountain Resort received three top distinctions in the areas of marketing and public relations.
On May 19, Sunlight was honored with a national marketing award in the category of Best Bring a Friend campaign by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). The ski industrys Bring a Friend campaign was created in 2012 as a platform for encouraging active skier and snowboarders to introduce more friends and family to the sport.
In its application, Sunlight presented its Slope and Soak 4-Pack, a limited-time promotion that offered four adult lift tickets to Sunlight, and four passes to Iron Mountain Hot Springs for just $199.
The best ski day is always one spent with good friends and family, and with Slope and Soak, we treated foursomes to a great day on the mountain capped by a relaxing soak in Glenwoods newest hot springs, what better way to introduce new skiers to the sport? said Troy Hawks, marketing and sales director at Sunlight. Were excited to have partnered with the folks at Iron Mountain on a campaign that created lots of new customers and heightened awareness for both brands.
The award was presented during NSAAs annual convention held at the Omni in Nashville, Tennessee. Now in its 17th year, the NSAA Marketing Awards recognized the industrys best marketing efforts in a variety of categories as submitted by ski areas in the U.S. and Canada.Slope and Soak was also named as the Most Unique Product of the Year by Liftopia, the leading third-party lift ticket sales and marketing firm in the World. The package was promoted through Liftopia.com, MTN Town Magazine, and also sold online at SunlightMTN.com.
We were thrilled to partner with Sunlight Mountain Resort on the Slope and Soak package during our first winter in business. Skiers enjoyed an epic snow season and were able to relax in our hot springs pools after a full day on the slopes. A perfect balance, said Heather Austin, marketing and sales manager at Iron Mountain Hot Springs.
Sunlight Mini Mayor Elijah Mattson
Meanwhile, editors of Ski Area Management magazine recently applauded Sunlights Mini-Mayor campaign as the Coolest PR Move. The review appeared in the magazines annual Best and Worst in Marketing issue published in May 2016.
Last November, Sunlight elected four-year old Elijah Mattson of Glenwood Springs as its first Mini-Mayor. The move came after Mattson posted a video to Twitter asking the resort to open early. The post garnered more than 1,000 impressions within the first hour. Days later officials at Sunlight announced they had created the new elected office of Mini-Mayor.
The office of Sunlight Mini-Mayor is a one-year term. In addition to a free season pass and a seat at the executive table, the Mini-Mayor tackles issues like stickers, events, and the quality of hamburgers and hot dogs. Campaigning and voting for Mini-Mayor 2016-17 will begin this fall with election results to be announced Nov. 8, 2016. Follow Sunlight Mountain Resort on Facebook and Twitter for more details on Mini-Mayor Campaign 2016!
