Unified ad program promotes Tahoe skiing

A well-funded and unified advertising effort seeks to draw skiers to resorts around Lake Tahoe this winter Both the funding and the unity mark a departure from years past, when tourism groups around the lake each launched their own advertising efforts.

"Every winter, readers would open Ski Magazine or Powder and see different Tahoe ads, all with messages promoting the destination differently," says Bill Chernock, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

This winter, tourism agencies have rallied around the "Blue World" advertising initiative launched last summer by the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, which is represents South Shore interests.

Joining in the campaign are the Tahoe Douglas Visitors Authority, the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, Ski Lake Tahoe, Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau and the Sierra Ski Marketing Council.

Together, the organizations will invest just under $1 million in this winter's ad campaign.

Tourism officials said it's difficult to compare this year's budget with ad spending in previous years, but they said it's dramatically higher as they compete against other Western destinations such as Colorado and Utah.

The spending is targeted primarily to destination visitors those who stay for a few days but Chernock said last week that tourism executives are looking for ways to use advertising to boost weekend visitors from core markets in northern California.

The "Blue World" ads devised by Mering and Associates of Sacramento will appear in magazines such as Ski, Travel & Leisure and Texas Monthly.

The campaign also will feature a lakewide travel planner to be distributed to potential visitors.

"Covering all aspects of the lake in the travel planner allows for us to distribute information to people simply.

Visitors no longer have to go to three different places for information," said Steve Teshara, executive director of the North Lake Tahoe Resorts Association.

And Bill Hoffman, who heads the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau, said the lake-wide publication is a more efficient buy for advertisers.

Although the cover and contents of the planner will remain consistent, each tourism agency will print its own call to action on the publication.

For instance, the North Lake association will print its phone number and Web address on the planners it distributes.

Also supporting the campaign will be expanded Internet presence.

The Blue World Web site www.bluelaketahoe.com provides year-round travel information including reservations, current events and "cool deals." In addition, the winter campaign is expected to advertise on Expedia and Travelocity as well as promote on Web sites that target winter sports aficionados.

Since the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority launched the "Blue World" program, tourism executives say inquiries from areas other than California have risen strongly.

In the first eight months of this year, the ads generated 26,968 requests for more information about Lake Tahoe tourism.

A year earlier, the association received 13,808 requests.

A smaller percentage of those calls are coming from California.

In the first eight months of 2002, some 50 percent of the requests for information came from the Golden State.

This year, California accounted for 36 percent of the inquiries.