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Steamboat is a ski resort where the young and old go to partake in winter sports, but it also has a storied history steeped in grassroots music. Whether you're gathered with thousands enjoying a free outdoor concert on a chilly afternoon or kicking up your boots in a dark saloon, there is music everywhere in this town.
To tap into the rhythm of our resort city, we evolved the epic “Steamboat Way” ad campaign for the 2024-2025 season and injected a fresh musical energy that appealed to skiers, snowboarders, and adventure-seekers while preserving its emotional appeal and image as a playground for people with a pioneering spirit.
These musical interludes were an extension of the Steamboat relaunch we kicked off in 2022 to celebrate the brand’s 60th anniversary and planned expansion.
That year, “The Steamboat Way” campaign paired the resort’s Western heritage legacy with the thrill of modern, fast-paced winter sports skiing and snowboarding. After decades as a world-renowned ski destination, Steamboat had fallen into a sea of sameness and lost its place among top-tier winter resorts. It needed a brand platform that could celebrate 60 years of Western heritage yet be flexible enough to adapt to evolving consumer preferences.
The “special sauce” of a Steamboat vacation was the combination of these factors we featured in the work—a trait previous ad campaigns struggled to articulate. Videos harnessed Cowboy Poetry, a powerful Western literary tradition, as copy while images of alt-sports served as visuals. Juxtaposing the two showed that they shared a pioneering spirit.
In this latest work, we sang Steamboat’s virtues from the mountain tops. For year three, we accentuated its rich history by hiring Sarah Anderson and Paul DeHaven from the Colorado Americana band Heavy Diamond Ring to write and sing odes about our enchanting outdoor environment. The songs served as the backdrop for the latest installment of the campaign, which debuted in August. We filmed the duo performing at iconic Steamboat locations, such as the scenic Rabbit Ears Pass, and local watering holes for spots.
Melodic ditties with titles such as “Champagne Powder,” “A Chairlift Romance,” and “Get on the Horse and Ride” merge into a coda of “The Steamboat Way.”
This work has already received press accolades from AdAge, Adweek, and Little Black Book, as well as several others.
Steamboat is a ski resort where the young and old go to partake in winter sports, but it also has a storied history steeped in grassroots music.
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Indie Agency News - Top 40 (Merit)
Clio Music 2025
Ad Club Colorado The Fifty 2025
One Show 2025
AdAge Creativity Awards 2025
