Powder Highway welcomes the world

For snow-sport lovers, the words “powder highway” are intoxicating, suggesting speed, movement, connection and, best of all, their beloved dry, fluffy snow.

There are 65 ski operators in the southeast corner of B.C.—eight alpine and 11 Nordic ski resorts, 15 snowcat and nine heli-ski operators, and 22 backcountry ski tour operators—all within British Columbia's Kootenay Rockies region and all competing for customer patronage.

Back in 2006, in a remarkably successful collaboration, seven tourist destinations came up with the concept of the Powder Highway to showcase snow sports in the entire Kootenay Rockies region.

A word from Whitewater

“When we first set out to brand the Powder Highway, we did it to place ourselves as a cohesive region within B.C. that could compete with areas like Banff and Whistler and the big American snow resorts,” said Anne Pigeon, vice-president of marketing and director of operations at Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson, B.C. “It’s been very successful for the region. As a collective we’re able to saturate the market in a way that an individual resort can’t do.”

Supportive competition works

Ashley Tait is director of sales and marketing for Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing, and she said that though the Kootenay Rockies resorts compete for customers, the Powder Highway brand supports all of them.

“It’s about identifying our region, so that collectively we promote tourism in our area and across the province,” she said. “We market internationally with the Canadian Tourism Commission, nationally with Destination B.C., and regionally with Kootenay Rockies Tourism and the Powder Highway. We’re competitive in a supportive environment.”

Thanks to the Internet

Kathy Cooper, CEO of Kootenay Rockies Tourism, said the Internet has been a powerful factor in current marketing.

“A shift has taken place from traditional marketing in newspapers, magazines and consumer shows to web-based marketing that has grown significantly even in the last four to five years,” Cooper said. “The Powder Highway website is a one-stop shop for information on all the winter activities.”

The site is a specific landing spot for information about the complete Powder Highway product; it provides snow reports, information about the terrain and the nearby communities, and blog posts from enthusiastic visitors.

“Before we had this capability,” said Cooper, “visitors planning to come here weren’t able to get all of the information packages that are available now. This Powder Highway concept made perfect sense to us, and was timely for the resorts because they realized that collaboration would leverage the impact of the story and give them much more strength in the marketplace.”

One resort, no matter how great it is, can’t demand enough attention to overshadow all of its competitors. Cooper said that the Powder Highway collaboration can do that with a brand that saturates the market with a great variety of product.

The region’s communities and amenities are also discussed on the Powder Highway website, and this means more tourist dollars for local businesses.

“To us, as marketers, this is a win-win,” said Cooper.