Online music service Napster is hoping that a partnership with snowboarding champion Gretchen Bleiler and some marketing muscle at the Winter X Games will help its branding efforts.
The music subscription company has erected a 144 square-foot lodge at the base of Apsen Mountain, CO, where the games begin Jan. 28. The Napster-branded lodge will open Jan. 27 through Jan. 29 to give visitors a taste of Napster’s online music library.
“We wanted something really funky and interactive where people can hang out and as a way to depart from the booth presence,” said Christine Fleming, marketing manager at Napster.
The lodge’s interior includes shelving and seats made from snowboards. Consumers can surf Napster.com on several laptops. Visitors with paid lift tickets can borrow complimentary MP3 players filled with Bleiler’s playlist to take on the slopes with them. The lodge will give away two K2 Napster-branded snowboards, 20 MP3 players with Napster subscriptions, T-shirts, beanies, lip balm and other premiums.
Bleiler, the 2005 X Games and Gravity Games gold medalist in snowboarding, will sign autographs at the lodge on Jan. 29. Napster’s logo will grace Bleiler’s snowboard and gear as she races down the slopes in front of X Games enthusiasts.
About 70,000 people will be in town watching the X Games, Fleming said. “We thought it would be a perfect place to capitalize on marketing our brand. It’s a very self-contained area and the audience is definitely a target for Napster, as people are seeking music and alternatives to how they can listen to it,” she said.
The Los Angeles-based company forged partnerships with local Aspen hotels, lodges, and retailers to help promote the lodge. Street teams have been hired to post flyers around Aspen and partnerships with Aspen Mountain Web sites were also made to announce the promotion. Napster will also host a halfpipe competition during the Games.
Grand Central Marketing, New York City and Los Angeles, handles.
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