Snowsports Industries America Joins CDC’s VERB
for Fast-Moving Ski Promotion

The Snowsports Industries America has belatedly joined the huge promotional campaign that was set up for $125 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002. The SIA’s goal is to attract as many as a 250,000 low income kids into the sport of skiing.
Due to fast-track into the industry will be available to ski retailers on December 4. VERB is described as “a national multicultural, social marketing campaign,” coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health, the CDC, and SIA.

VERB takes aim at “tweens” (ages 9-13), encouraging them to be physically active every day. The details of this promotion are still somewhat foggy, and participating retailers have yet to be identified. However, VERBs advertising agency, Frankel in Chicago, is reportedly already at work on creative for a paid (not public service) advertising campaign to drive “tweens” to ski shops that day.

Kids who show up will be given “Snow Pass” access books encouraging them to try different winter sports activities from November 2004 through March 2005.

An SIA’s press release says that the books are designed to “drive participants to verbnow.com and snowlinkjr.com (SIA’s kids’ site) for activity alternatives, gaming, sweepstakes, and more.”
"The goal of this event is to introduce 250,000 new kids, children, and parents to snow sports as a fun, healthy, and exciting option for winter activity,” said SIA’s Scott Mellin.

VERB’s PowerPoint presentation says the promo is aimed a “target kid” who cannot afford snow equipment, looks at snow sports as something that can only be done at the mountain, but whose creativity can be tapped.

One concern expressed by many in the industry is the time frame. December 4 is only a few weeks away; a very fast track for a promotion with a very large goal and requiring full participation by hundreds of snow sports retailers -- not a group used to coordinated national promotions -- to match the extensive advertising campaign. Still, should the program work, no one would refuse a quarter-million new participants who might someday be able to afford to travel to ski and ride.

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