Jackson Hole - Events Marketing

I'm not sure this is the best title, but after reading two blog posts back-to-back about Jackson Hole, commenting on the effectiveness of event marketing seemed appropriate.

Mind you, I generally read the news, then some marketing and internet video blogs, then get into snowsports. Kind of like reading the paper: Front page, maybe business, save the sports for last. Sports for dessert. I screwed up today and forgot to read the news. Who won Super Tuesday? I'll find out later. For dessert maybe.

Anyways, the two posts were "Local Boys Take Quicksilver Title" in the Jackson Hole Blog followed by "Powder to the Peaceful" in the JH Underground Blog. Pretty clear I go in alphabetical order, too, huh?

The Quicksilver Natural Selection All Mountain Invitational was a new event organized by Jackson local Travis Rice, who naturally won the inaugural event. In these days of multiple competing tours and events, it's pretty obvious that getting financial backing from either an endemic or non-endemic brand is pretty important. In the case of the Natural Selection, Rice hooked up one of his major sponsors with title sponsorship of a cool new event, held on his home turf, that he subsequently won. Pretty smart. Of course the weather cooperated, too. Which leads us to the second event.

With snow like this, why are we fighting?

A simple "happy hour Friday" at Cloudveil Store in Jackson. With all the great snow this year, and the rapid growth of backcountry skiing and riding, there has been a lot of tension on Teton Pass. So Couldveil has called something of a "time out" to try and address concerns over beers. The man in the middle might well be Teton Pass Ambassador Jay Pistono, who will at least be in attendance. My hope would be that he moderates some discussions.

So how are these two events related?

• Both are in Jackson Hole and have local ties (Travis Rice, Cloudveil)
  
• Both leverage a popular brand name to lend credibility, if not financial backing or something as simple as a venue
  
• Both brands gain exposure "sponsoring" something cool
• Both brands help promote the sports in all the right ways: funding a progressive new event or helping resolve disputes

My two cents. Well done to both Quicksilver and Cloudveil for good event marketing.

This just in: Spyder is buying Cloudveil. So maybe that's what the party is for. Cloudveil also seemed to be in a pretty festive mood at OR as evidenced by this video I first saw on The Snaz (also out of Jackson). Maybe I should read ALL my blogs first, write second.