Saddleback

The challenge

Driving Demand in a Seasonal, High-Intent Market

Saddleback, an independent ski resort in western Maine, reopened after more than five years and quickly regained momentum as a regional destination and important part of the local economy. But within a year, its existing ski industry marketing strategy began to show limitations. Sonar was brought in midway through the second season to rethink the approach. In a highly seasonal market where demand and competition peak quickly, we focused on reaching the right audiences at the right moments. In less than a season, we refined the channel mix, improved efficiency, and aligned media investment with skier visits and season pass revenue.

Key Objectives

• Optimize channel mix across search, social, video and traditional media
• Drive skier visits and season pass purchases during peak windows
• Improve efficiency and return on media investment
• Strengthen brand visibility leading into and during the season
• Build a scalable full-funnel marketing approach

The solution

A Full-Funnel Media Strategy Aligned to Seasonality

We partnered with Saddleback to develop and execute a full-funnel media strategy designed to balance awareness, engagement, and demand capture across the season.

The approach focused on reallocating spend toward higher-performing channels, including broadcast and online video, while refining paid search and social to capture high-intent demand. Campaigns were structured to remain consistently in-market, with increased investment during key decision-making periods.

Audience targeting emphasized affinity and in-market segments, which drove stronger engagement and higher video completion rates, while branded search campaigns captured demand efficiently at peak moments.

The story

Balancing Demand Generation and Demand Capture

Saddleback’s marketing challenge wasn’t just about driving traffic, but aligning media strategy with how demand builds in a seasonal business. We developed a full-funnel approach that balanced awareness and conversion, using video and broadcast campaigns to build familiarity early while paid search and social captured high-intent audiences closer to booking. As campaigns progressed, increased visibility strengthened brand recognition and engagement during peak periods, while more structured execution helped capture demand efficiently. The result was improved performance and a scalable framework that aligns media, messaging, and timing to maximize reach and revenue throughout the season.

The next opportunity

With a highly customized strategy that took real business and audience considerations into account, Saddleback established a clear framework for how to balance awareness and demand capture in a highly seasonal market. This approach aligned media, messaging, and timing to more effectively drive visits and revenue during peak periods.