Email from Marketing at Warren Miller

Warren Miller's marketing dept would like some feedback regarding the coupon offerings:

"We'd love to get some feedback from you regarding the resort offers.

Do you think that offers on the coupons play into people attending the show?

What are some offers that folks in upstate and west NY really would care about?

Let me know, I'd love to hear what your thoughts are regarding that."

FYI IMO... YES the resort offers drive people to the show.

Harvey wrote

FYI IMO... YES the resort offers drive people to the show.

After you've seen one it's the only reason to go

our shop does a small showing of the WME movies each yr and id say 75% of the people that go do it for the tickets, and tickets only.

 The coupons used to be a great deal. A straight up day of skiing at someplace good. Now they all come with thick strings - Bogos, midweeks, and black out dates that seem to cover half the year.

 I used to be willing to go to more that one show because the deal was worth the rather high door price. Not any more.

 Don't get me wrong, something is better than nothing. But, I would rather see fewer total ticket offerings per show if that meant what we did get was an anytime pass to someplace sweet.

 If there were to be no goodies at all though, I would have a hard paying the door price for even one show.

I went here in WNY.  There was a deal advertised from a ski shop that I went to get. (The shop is part of the upstate ski and board group of stores.)

When I got online the coupon didn't exist.  I called the store.  They had offered it to WME, but for some reason WME decided to pass on it.  Called the number on the WME post-card you get at the movie and no reply at all.

So NO, I am not happy about the promotions!

Way back when, it was the ski stoke first, freebies second...Then it was to support my kids' ski team (Where Condor works {Alpine} promoted it), then when my kids graduated I stopped going.  Warren was the best.  When he sold his name it just wasn't the same.

Tell them to offer a coupon to see a good movie.

There is more, and better, competition for a shrinking ski market audience. But, I don't regret seeing a second of any movie night. For me it's all about hanging out with my peers that are stoked for the months-off winter. If the freebies and movie are in a balance, then great.

sudsnbumps wrote

Warren was the best.  When he sold his name it just wasn't the same.

Yeah, I think we can all agree that the movies pretty much suck now. If any other company (TGR, Matchstick, Sweetgrass) had their budget, they could produce a way better film. Hell, the Sweetgrass guys could probably fund 5 years of kickass movies.

The music is lame, the editing is shotty, the athletes (who are awesome) are not shown performing at their peak. The ONLY reason to go is for the free tix.

What would I like to see? How about a Fox44 card with every ticket sold? That would be cool.

Our annual showing is early November so I'd say 50% general ski stoke and reconnecting with ski friends, 25% freebies, 25% movie.

We went to the Meatheads movie a few times when it was shown at the AOH in Schenectady. I found that way more enjoyable and worth my time. Couple bucks admission, 50-50 raffle, really intimate venue, and so much swag that everyone walked away with something. All benefitting a group of local skiers that are just trying to have a good time. And having the emcee/AV operator/host be one of the guys you're actually watching on screen was cool for both me and the kids.

Never once noticed I didn't get a discounted lift ticket to someplace 2-3 hours away that was only good on Wednesdays with a full moon in early December as long as I showed up after 2p.....

SIAWOL wrote

We went to the Meatheads movie a few times when it was shown at the AOH in Schenectady. I found that way more enjoyable and worth my time.

The Meatheads rule.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

The Meatheads rule.

Indeed. Love their classic - Epic, have it on CD and watch it pretty much each season.

The freebies definitely make a difference, I had a friend who couldn’t go but bought a ticket for the lift ticket freebie.  We now do an annual trip based on the non-blackout dates up at Sugarbush, which we would not do without the free lift ticket.  

The Meathead's are awesome and I miss their annual film!

Matt - did you see the last WME?

One of the biggest improvements was the soundtrack. Gone are the days of linkin park / whatever they think 14 year olds want to hear.  I kind of dug the classic rock mixed in with the new stuff. Ratatat is super ubiquitous for these types of films and edits, but the folksy recent tracks like the one by the War on Drugs was pretty cool. I bet they paid someone a lot of money to class up the jams.

http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/press/no-turning-back-soundtrack


Yes, the Meatheads are certainly missed but I love when the films come out each year, it just means you're getting closer to ski season (even if the freebies are getting lamer).

ml242 wrote

Matt - did you see the last WME?

Yes. Music still sucked. They're always 5 years behind.

The difference is that WME picks songs that they think people will like as opposed to picking cool new songs that people don't know they like yet.

Other ski companies get this. WME, owned by the owner of SKI Magazine (who does the same thing with destinations), does not.

Over the years the movies seem to have lost their magic, id rather watch something from meat heads. Reuniting with all my ski buddies before the film is what its all about. There seems to be less free swag every year. Also the tickets have more and more restrictions every year making them hard to use. Id much rather get 1 ticket with no blackouts than 3 that  are almost impossible to use. Most of us leave the movie after intermission. My wife did win a 3 day trip to windham which is kinda cool, being the most boring mountain in the cats we will just sleep there and ski plattekill. I feel like they should be giving tickets to cooler places like plattekill or hickory. I saw the show in Binghamton ny what am i going to do with a smugglers notch ticket that's only good on 2 fridays? Or a steamboat ticket only free if i buy a lesson wtf is that about? If it was an actual free any day ticket i would jump on a airplane in a heartbeat and use it to slay deep powder for a day.  A buy one get one ticket to my local greek peak is also completely useless to me and everyone i know who went we are already season passholders. The free swag used to be way better now if you dont sit in the first few rows you have no shot at any of it because the guy throwing the stuff has about the same arm as my 5 year old daughter. The one coupon i use every year and love is 25 off 100 or more purchase at bergers my local ski shop. I chase powder tickets with restrictions are generally useless to me.

mattchuck2 wrote

The difference is that WME picks songs that they think people will like as opposed to picking cool new songs that people don't know they like yet.

Other ski companies get this. WME, owned by the owner of SKI Magazine (who does the same thing with destinations), does not.

Ok, I'm going to turn my post down a bit because I just looked up the soundtrack for Almost Ablaze and thought that some of the songs in WM were actually in TGR.

But I still have to disagree at least in part. I don't think it's the production companies goal to turn you onto new music, the goal should be to fit the segments and get you stoked. It's slightly arrogant, but I have friends that book shows in NYC, I have access to awesome radio (online, like everyone else) and through some cool radio stations out of the NYC area (most radio here is utter dogshit, worst than most metros though)... why would I expect a sports marketing company to know about the cool bands that play down the street from me?

Was I supposed to like that rap-rock stuff when all the companies were playing that? Or the endless reggae loops they've used for the past 20 years? I dunno, to me that is far more boring than digging out a sweet YES song from the crypt of forgotten gems.




And yeah, the athletes should be able to clear the first five rows. Maybe they could use those leg muscles to punt the swag a little farther.

I first heard of Warren Miller through a radio contest which I won tickets to and the DVD.  I didn't even know they had free tickets there or I would have went.  I was happy with the DVD.  But, then I got a call and won the grand prize drawing.  I won a set of Rossignol Cobra 90s which were way to small for me, an Obermeyer jacket I still wear today and a down Vest that I think I sold.  I think this was maybe 8 to 10 years ago but, I do credit this occurrence into getting me back out on skis which I stopped for a season or two because of an unrelated injury.

I continued to go to Warren Miller every year after for the free tickets.  The movie was ok but, I'd usually fall asleep or leave after the break and giveaways.  It eventually over the years turned into a regular part of getting stoked up about the season and seeing all my ski and boarding buddies.  A big part though for me was the tickets.

Windham, while boring has good snowmaking and has been a good goto place early season because of its just less than 2 hour drive.  It also helps that last year I discovered I could just reprint and reuse the Windham as often as I like.  I went twice last year off the same WM code and 3 times this season.  I would never pay to goto Windham and the last few years I had hoped they would drop Windham from the deal and add a different mountain.  Regardless, I still had a lot of fun there all 3 times this season.  Each time I was able to drive up after work, be on the mountain by noon, find front row parking from an early skiers departure and ski a solid 4 hours.  Front row parking and free ticket less than two hours from home, hard to beat that.

I really like the Sugarbush ticket.  It is a far drive and it is restricted but, I've used it the last 3 years.  I like that it is midweek because that is when promotions should be run.  Face it, if you go and it is uncrowded midweek you may go back on the weekend and pay for a ticket.  If you get a weekend ticket, you might think it's crowded and not come back.  I may be wrong but, I've heard it is busy on weekends but, I've only been there midweek and it feels like they opened the place for you.

The other tickets like Smuggler's Notch and Steamboat are pretty much a joke.  I would rather have less sponsors as long as they were legitimate deals.  I don't mind some restrictions but, lets be reasonable.  Even last year I rewon the same radio contest for tickets to the movie.  And then I rewon the grand prize, a set of skis and bindings.  Learning from past inexperience, I recognized they were too small for me and gave them to a buddy which helped up his game when he learned what it was like to ski with an edge.  I'm all for free stuff and I have never been let down by what is offered.  Even if you just used one Windham coupon, that is worth $20.  Can't really go wrong.  If you use just 2 tickets you make out pretty big in saving money.

Am I the only one who's never been to a WM flick?