2021 Winner
SilverBest Use of Display/Video
BronzeBest in Video
BronzeBest in Branded Content
BronzeBest in Automotive
BRP (Ski Doo)
"Escape Mountain"
Touché!
"Escape Mountain"
Touché!
BRP invented Ski-Doo, the first snowmobile, in 1922. After almost a century, Ski-Doo still had a very dominant share of the market. The industry is pretty still and often doesn’t see growth YoY. Therefore, to increase sales by 10.5% and be able to maintain an overriding market share of 46.4%, Ski-Doo needed to grow the number of new entrants.
Having created the category, Ski-Doo obviously knew its core target: 45+, fervent snowmobilers, high income and living in rural markets. But which consumers should Ski Doo target to grow the snowmobile community? An interesting insight was that cold and winter discomforts are the number one barrier to entry. Therefore, it was a lot easier to convert extreme winter sports enthusiasts (ice climbers, downhill skiers, glacier hikers) to snowmobile, than converting summer riders
(motorcycles, watercraft).
This campaign capitalizes on one important category truth: it is really hard to get consumers interested in snowmobiles before the first snow hits the ground. Until the first snowflakes, consumers are not in the “winter” mindset and postpone buying. With winters coming in later and later in the year, it was critical to create enthusiasm for the snowmobile category early in the fall, regardless
of snow precipitations.
To create excitement and to bring the Ski-Doo Feeling to life, the agency created an impactful documentary, which would best carry the emotions and adrenaline rush the targeted winter sports junkies were craving.
Think Escape Room. With an outdoor twist. On top of an isolated blizzard mountain. In a remote area. This is what “Escape Mountain”, a 45-minute documentary by Ski-Doo, was about.
“Escape Mountain by Ski-Doo” was a four-month campaign, centred around a 45-min documentary on the Discovery Channel, in USA and Canada. Escape Mountain aired in program during prime time viewing hour. It was heavily promoted by Discovery in all of their TV shows to maximize viewership. The long format allowed the adrenaline rush they needed to convince new entrants from the extreme winter sports community.
Like a blockbuster film, it was launched during Ski-Doo’s annual sales event with dealers and their VIP customers. The attendance of the pro riders featured in the documentary added a layer of excitement.
The show was then cut into shorter videos for online viewers on Ski-Doo’s website and YouTube. These digital platforms featured exclusive content, including stories about the five participants. To target the right audience, they leveraged Ski-Doo’s first party data but also opened the targeting to a broader audience including lookalikes and extreme winter sports fanatics.
Escape Mountain was also supported by a weather-triggered digital campaign. When the snow first hit the ground, they switched to more product-focused ads. This added another layer of complexity, since the campaign covered a vast territory in the USA and Canada and each region had their
specific weather patterns.
The snowmobile category primarily brings forth a rational communication centred around product’s features. This traditional communication approach worked well with Ski-Doo’s core target but failed to attract the desired new entrants, the winter extreme sports lovers. With Escape Mountain, they turned the industry upside down and decided to focus on excitement and adrenaline, rather than on product.
Furthermore, the content strategy was a way to create an impact early in the fall. Indeed, they needed a communication that was distinctive and impactful to change a deeply entrenched consumer behaviour i.e. waiting for the first snow fall to kick off the buying process.
They invested most of the budget before the first snow hit (August-November), a bold strategy that succeeded in stimulating preseason sales, even in regions that had no snow
precipitation before December.
Not only did they increase the market share by 5.8 pp. and generate 18% more sales YoY, but they overturned the industry trend. Without Ski-Doo, the industry was decreasing by 6.1%. Now, it’s
growing by 5.8% vs last year.
The campaign succeeded in creating a lift before the snow hits the ground in every North American market. By December 1st, Ski-Doo witnessed an increase of 82% in its YOY sales leads and +6% of the store visits were tracked back to the YOY media efforts. Escape Mountain gained more than 16.8 million impressions and over 670 000 engagements on social media.
Having created the category, Ski-Doo obviously knew its core target: 45+, fervent snowmobilers, high income and living in rural markets. But which consumers should Ski Doo target to grow the snowmobile community? An interesting insight was that cold and winter discomforts are the number one barrier to entry. Therefore, it was a lot easier to convert extreme winter sports enthusiasts (ice climbers, downhill skiers, glacier hikers) to snowmobile, than converting summer riders
(motorcycles, watercraft).
This campaign capitalizes on one important category truth: it is really hard to get consumers interested in snowmobiles before the first snow hits the ground. Until the first snowflakes, consumers are not in the “winter” mindset and postpone buying. With winters coming in later and later in the year, it was critical to create enthusiasm for the snowmobile category early in the fall, regardless
of snow precipitations.
To create excitement and to bring the Ski-Doo Feeling to life, the agency created an impactful documentary, which would best carry the emotions and adrenaline rush the targeted winter sports junkies were craving.
Think Escape Room. With an outdoor twist. On top of an isolated blizzard mountain. In a remote area. This is what “Escape Mountain”, a 45-minute documentary by Ski-Doo, was about.
“Escape Mountain by Ski-Doo” was a four-month campaign, centred around a 45-min documentary on the Discovery Channel, in USA and Canada. Escape Mountain aired in program during prime time viewing hour. It was heavily promoted by Discovery in all of their TV shows to maximize viewership. The long format allowed the adrenaline rush they needed to convince new entrants from the extreme winter sports community.
Like a blockbuster film, it was launched during Ski-Doo’s annual sales event with dealers and their VIP customers. The attendance of the pro riders featured in the documentary added a layer of excitement.
The show was then cut into shorter videos for online viewers on Ski-Doo’s website and YouTube. These digital platforms featured exclusive content, including stories about the five participants. To target the right audience, they leveraged Ski-Doo’s first party data but also opened the targeting to a broader audience including lookalikes and extreme winter sports fanatics.
Escape Mountain was also supported by a weather-triggered digital campaign. When the snow first hit the ground, they switched to more product-focused ads. This added another layer of complexity, since the campaign covered a vast territory in the USA and Canada and each region had their
specific weather patterns.
The snowmobile category primarily brings forth a rational communication centred around product’s features. This traditional communication approach worked well with Ski-Doo’s core target but failed to attract the desired new entrants, the winter extreme sports lovers. With Escape Mountain, they turned the industry upside down and decided to focus on excitement and adrenaline, rather than on product.
Furthermore, the content strategy was a way to create an impact early in the fall. Indeed, they needed a communication that was distinctive and impactful to change a deeply entrenched consumer behaviour i.e. waiting for the first snow fall to kick off the buying process.
They invested most of the budget before the first snow hit (August-November), a bold strategy that succeeded in stimulating preseason sales, even in regions that had no snow
precipitation before December.
Not only did they increase the market share by 5.8 pp. and generate 18% more sales YoY, but they overturned the industry trend. Without Ski-Doo, the industry was decreasing by 6.1%. Now, it’s
growing by 5.8% vs last year.
The campaign succeeded in creating a lift before the snow hits the ground in every North American market. By December 1st, Ski-Doo witnessed an increase of 82% in its YOY sales leads and +6% of the store visits were tracked back to the YOY media efforts. Escape Mountain gained more than 16.8 million impressions and over 670 000 engagements on social media.
Credits
Touché!BRP
Anomaly
Discovery Channel