Oster and Associates recently organized a Media Weekend for our long-time client, Big Bear Mountain Resorts. Every year, we invite members of the media from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas to come to Big Bear Lake, CA for a weekend of skiing and boarding at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit. This year’s Media Weekend was bigger than ever before, with nearly 100 people making their way from the stations to the slopes for a fun weekend in our very own SoCal winter wonderland.

The success of our Media Weekend reminded us of the importance of experiential marketing. Essentially, experiential marketing is a way to get your audience to engage with and experience your brand or product. Many times, experiential marketing comes in the form of an interactive event, such as our Media Weekend. Think of experiential marketing in terms of this simple equation: Engagement + Experience= Exposure.

Our recent Media Weekend provides a great case study for the importance of experiential marketing. We often tell the media about all that we offer at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit, but we know that what will really make an impact is bringing them to the slopes to see it for themselves. Reading about excellent snow conditions is great, but skiing and boarding them is better. Seeing b-roll of skiers and snowboarders is nice, being one of them is nicer. If there’s one thing experiential marketing teaches us, it’s that there is truly no substitute for experience.

So, what was the bottom line of our Media Weekend? As is often the case with successful experiential marketing efforts, we saw a number of great results, including:

Increased awareness: There is a perception that no resort in California currently has snow. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth at Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, which have some of the best snow coverage and conditions in the state. Because members of the media were able to come experience the conditions and see the snow covered slopes for themselves, they can now go back to their audiences and spread the word– increasing overall knowledge and awareness among thousands of viewers.  

Increased brand loyalty: After a fun-filled day on the slopes, we heard this feedback over and over again: “We had such a great time. We can’t wait to come back!” Many of those who attended will not only come back themselves, but also encourage their audiences to visit. In this way, experiential marketing allows individuals to form an emotional connection and become brand evangelists, encouraging others to experience the brand as well.

Increased exposure: Throughout the day, our attendees Facebooked, Tweeted and Instagrammed their adventures on the slopes, sharing their day through social media interaction with fans and followers. We saw a huge spike in social media traffic during Media Weekend. And not only that- many individuals returned to their stations and aired footage of their time on the mountain. We love securing this kind of invaluable exposure.  

We couldn’t be happier with the results of our Media Weekend, and can’t wait to do it again next year. How can we help you with your own marketing efforts? Check out osterads.com, give us a call at 619-906-5540, or email us at info@osterads.com to see what we can do for you! And be sure to check back weekly for industry tips, trends and insights!