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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » IR Live From Vail: Develop Radically Different Promise Says MTS HeadlinerBy Craig Altschul 
Barrera said "under promising is a one-way ticket to oblivion in a crowded marketplace" such as the mountain resort industry. But, he cautioned, there's a one-word description of not delivering what you promise: "Lying." There are about six general categories, each with its own subsets, from which mountain resorts can pick a few places where they truly can over promise and over deliver: Amenities, snowfall, ease of access, great food, terrain, and entertainment. "Take one of those and blow it out," Barrera urged. "Do something radically different." He used "lines" as an example that seemed to make his point with the large, clearly focused, and intentional audience. "What if you promised there would be no more lines at your resort? Not just lift lines - that's the most obvious annoyance - but no lines in cafeterias, rental shops, registering the kids in programs, anywhere. People would come in droves. That's what would happen." The key to success is delivering on your promises by aligning them at all those critical spots he calls "TouchPoints." Step one is the over promise and then aligning the promise with your product (people need to take home things that remind them of your product, like shirts and hats, etc.); your system (the things people can't keep and take home like hotel stays); your people (the human, face-to-face interactions). It all leads to people saying "Wow, they did what they said they would do." "Differentiation is essential in the marketplace," Barrera said. "There's a myth that brands begin in the marketing department. They never have and they never will. Brands exist only in the minds of your clients." The "brand" created by Mother Teresa, he pointed out, drawing smiles from the audience, didn't come from her marketing or PR departments, because she didn't have any. He got more laughs with the example of Paris Hilton's brand of "sexy, stupid, bimbo" (audience members supplied the description). "Hilton's marketing department wants us to believe she went to prison, found God, and has become a new person." Here's his point: Actions in the marketplace determine branding. Brands are nothing more than your reputation. He challenged the hundreds of mountain resort sales executives listening to determine the three words their resorts are known for right now as a good starting point. "Brands are created in brains," he says, "We no longer have control of the message. He cites Exxon as a good example of how fleeting our reputations can be. One high-level employee had a "bad day" and washed away billions of dollars worth of goodwill. "What do you first think of when you think of Exxon today?" The chorus came back: "Valdez." That incident, he noted was 29 years ago. Barrera cited Steve Jobs of Macintosh, who long ago made the decision that putting all of the company's resources behind a few quality products would be the right strategy. "Life is brief and then you die," he quoted Jobs. "So it better be damn good." He told the story of how Maxwell House and Folgers coffee brands duked it out for 100 years, gaining slight market edges on one another with coupon offers. "Then, along came an audacious company like Starbucks that bucked conventional thinking. They burnt the beans, hired and trained barristas to brew the coffee, made the stores smell like the product, and people were willing to stand in line to pay $4 a cup. Yes, they managed all the TouchPoints," he said. Barrera moved along quickly and didn't deal with how Starbucks is now in the position, many billions of dollars later, of having to reinvent itself. No matter, point made. He had more advice. Pick a word. Then, own it. Lexus owns "luxury." Volvo owns "safety." BMW owns "performance." What do Chevy and Ford own? "Nothing." Barrera says we can't be all things to all people, because then, "we become nothing to anyone. Own something…give up all else," he said. "There is an incredible reliance on word of mouth today, more than at any other time in our history. New research shows 71 percent of Americans rely on the recommendations of family and friends when it comes to choosing places to vacations. "That means we need to find ways to drive the buzz about our mountain resorts. Sometimes event marketing is the answer." He pointed to the Academy Awards. "They were created by the movie industry to give awards to themselves. They stretch out the buzz with a nominations announcement. Films nominated or winning get new life in theaters and on DVDs. Actors and actresses infuse their own buzz. But who really wins? The industry itself wins." FedEx left its competition in the dust with its proposition that they are the people to turn to "when it absolutely has to be there overnight." The FedEx icon is an airplane. Barrera asks who are you going to turn to when something has to get there fast? "An airplane or a brown truck?" Clarity of the promise is important. Hertz was the sponsor of the session and Jan Hauer noted in her opening remarks how Hertz works its TouchPoints of making it easy for their best customers to see their names up in lights to a popular NeverLost navigation add-on. Barrera, after thanking Hertz for paying the bills, noted how the company has instilled "there's Hertz and there's not exactly…" in staying ahead of the competition. "The fact is customers have too many choices today. Customers shop at warp speed. So, bring passionate exaggeration to your product. You don't need six safari headlights and an antelope grill to drive around Vail, but Hummer made you want it. "What would happen to the power of your brand if all of your TouchPoints were aligned?" Barrera wants to know how will you engineer 'brandus interruptus?'" MTS Notebook: Nobody seems very willing to even try to guess at how much business was written the first two days of the symposium when literally thousands of one-on-one, business-to-business deals were inked. The number would be astronomical... The state of the economy and whether the mountain travel industry is bulletproof or not is the coffee and beer topic du jour... The international flavor at this MTS is palpable. They're buying and resorts are selling product in any language... The Town of Vail put on a whopper of a shindig at the brand new Arabelle that holds out high hope Lionshead at Vail will finally become more than a boring suburb... The Industry Report, coming to you live from Vail, will check back into your e-mailbox Thursday morning with a full report on the heavily anticipated "Future of the Mountain Resort Industry" forum that boasts an all-star cast. Stay tuned. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Comments
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Posted by: Juan Navarro Evergreen Lodge | April 10, 2008 07:57 AM
