smaller (though cooler) scale. Snowbird, on the other hand, represents “a moun- tain escape for people trying to leave the city,” says Sherman. >>
climbing-wall-cum-free-fall and a newly expanded ropes course, says communi - cations manager Sarah Sherman.
kind of person,” meaning that Park City, as its name implies, has a more urban, developed character—in other words, it is not unlike Salt Lake City only on a
EARLY ADOPTER
Snowbird began exploring the world of summer operations as early as the 1970s, with events such as concerts by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and camps, capped by a season-ending Oktoberfest (which continues to this day) before switching gears back to winter operations. The move into summer was reinforced by a name change: in 1977, Snowbird began officially calling itself Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. That lasted until 2008, when the resort reverted to just Snowbird. By then, its summer operations were a given. One incentive for the push into summer was a desire to fill the 350 rooms in Snowbird’s Cliff Lodge, especially with the expansion in the 1980s of meeting space in the hotel. But going after cor - porate groups for meetings and going after the general public for summer fun represented different business models. The resort didn’t really jump on the outdoor-recreation piece of the puzzle until the early 2000s.
Credit: Otto Solberg
READY-MADE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
There were two particular audiences that Snowbird identified as potential customers: Salt Lake City-area residents and winter visitors. Locals. For the local market, Snowbird’s location at more than 3,000 vertical feet above the Salt Lake City basin (less than 30 miles away) offered an escape into natural air conditioning for city residents beset by the heat. Daytime summer temps are often 20 degrees (or more) cooler than the usual mid-90s in Salt Lake. Hence, it is in the Salt Lake City area that the resort began focusing its most robust summer marketing efforts. It might seem that Snowbird would be competing for the Salt Lake City market with nearby Park City Resort, which has its own expansive menu of summer activities. But Sherman insists that “each resort attracts a different
Top: The Snowbird Tram, one of the resort’s anchor attractions. Above: The original ropes course, pre-expansion.
Credit: RCI Adventure Products
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator