I just came back from a week of skiing in Colorado. The X-Games was being held at the neighboring mountain resort, Buttermilk, so we decided to go ski there on Wednesday and see if we could ski over to the actual half-pipe and slope side courses that the athletes would ski or snowboard on.
It was a beautiful Colorado bluebird sky, not a cloud to be seen, and we were able to ski right over to the fence and watch the snowboarders as they practiced their tricks on the hill. It was incredibly cool to be able to ski down to the side of the run and stand right next to the athletes as they performed their absolute mind-boggling twists and turns.
We went back to watch the Games at night. The snow started to fall, the crowds surged up the hill to find a place to stand – there were 30,000 people braving the elements to watch the action and catch a glimpse of Shaun White or Tucker Hibbert. OK, we were a little older than the typical X-Game visitor but it occurred to me that this was an amazing demographic.
Target the Market
Did you watch the TV commercials during the X-Games? The Navy was the overall sponsor and every skier wore a Navy logo bib. What a market for them – Daredevil teenage boys ages 14-21.
It looked like a lot of marketers did their research. When was the last time you saw a Pop Tarts commercial? There were also ads featuring ski clothing & equipment, a Jeep surviving an avalanche, and lots of ads for mobile phones & communications devices.
Facebook was another big winner. In addition to the event winners as scored by the judges, the X-Games used their Facebook site to vote for “Crowd Favorites” for each type of event (Half pipe, Snow cross, Big Air) or the “Moment of the Day”. People were continuously uploading & sharing their photos – when we talk about social media at its finest, this was a great example.
BTW – the –Games Facebook page has had 3,995,050 likes since 1995.