7 ms·

A ski resort used a 1-star review in its ads, so now I’m inspired

112 points by iamben 9y ago

EwanG 9y ago
Nothing like reframing the debate. Sort of like 1 star Amazon reviews where someone complains about never having to recharge a USB battery pack...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
gt_ 9y ago
I agree this is a good ad from a tourist perspective. The sad part is Snowbird is tracked within an hour after any snowfall. First tram up on a powder day at snowbird deserves all 5 stars but after that, it's a legitimate 1 star experience. EDIT: unless you spent the night in the canyon and an avalanche takes out the access road :)
- dahart 9y ago
  > First tram up on a powder day at Snowbird deserves all 5 stars but after that, it's a legitimate 1 star experience. If you're a spoiled local like me, and only 3 feet of powder, only in the chutes where everyone goes, if that's the only thing worth considering, then I can understand your statement there. But even though I'm spoiled, I've never had anything close to a 1 star experience at Snowbird even on the groomers. I've skied there in 30-below when the snow actually stops working, and I still wouldn't call it 1 star. 1 star is what you get on the east coast and in California, when you compare it to Utah. We don't even have 1 star anywhere in Utah. Anyway, hit more Mineral Basin, I can usually find powder there days after any snowfall. Or find a friend with the early bird pass, Tram opens at 7am for a few "lucky" people.
- nether 9y ago
  > The sad part is Snowbird is tracked within an hour after any snowfall Is there any resort where this is not the case?
  - acchow 9y ago
    I don't think it's been like this in tahoe
  - wtvanhest 9y ago
    I'm a solid intermediate snow boarder. Snowbird is uniquely steep/aggressive imo. Most other great mountains like Breck or whistler etc. have a combination of relaxing and tough. Snowbird just feels tough almost all the way down. Good snow probably makes snowbird amazing, limited or tracked snow sucks there more than other places imo.
  - gt_ 9y ago
    Powder Mountain!
- Mikeb85 9y ago
  > The sad part is Snowbird is tracked within an hour after any snowfall. First tram up on a powder day at snowbird deserves all 5 stars but after that, it's a legitimate 1 star experience. And this is why I'm into ski touring these days. Crowds are minimal to non-existent.
ot 9y ago
Maybe they got the idea from Abstruse Goose http://www.abstrusegoose.com/527 http://www.abstrusegoose.com/527
CapitalistCartr 9y ago
The review says: "I've heard Snowbird is a tough mountain, but this is ridiculous. It felt like every trail was a steep chute or littered with tree wells. How is anyone supposed to ride in that? Not fun!" Greg, Los Angeles, CA
gingerlime 9y ago
I wonder how this can work in other cases though. After all, if their selling point is very difficult snow trails, and someone basically says that their trails are too difficult for him, then is it really a 1-star review? It's cool that they can do this, but very few businesses can rely on this extreme segmentation...
- betenoire 9y ago
  "this food is too spicy" at a mexican restaurant. "The rides made me want to throw up" at a wild carnival. They seem pretty easy to make. Find some feature, make it "intense", make someone whine about the intensity. But yeah, it's not really a 1 star review, the guy just doesn't get it, and we are in on the joke.
  - baddox 9y ago
    My favorites are the 1 star reviews of national parks. Such reviews have gotten some coverage lately in online outdoor communities. They tend to be either wilderness aficionados complaining that too many people are there taking pictures, or unprepared visitors complaining about the lack of amenities. To be clear, I can understand both (particularly the former, geez Yosemite), but both are examples of realistic expectations not factoring into the reviews. One example: https://backpackers.com/20-hilarious-one-star-yelp-reviews-of-national-parks/ https://backpackers.com/20-hilarious-one-star-yelp-reviews-o...
    - PhantomGremlin 9y ago
      Those are great. My favorite is for Yellowstone National Park: It's like a bigger version of Central Park, only with bears.
  - colechristensen 9y ago
    "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." "If nobody hates you, you’re doing something wrong" Trying to be all things to all people means you'll likely be exquisitely mediocre. Excellence very often comes out of limitations, and designing whom your product is _not_ intended for can be more powerful than the opposite. Using honest feedback from someone you intended to not serve is a clever tactic and building something to get reviews like that might improve your business.
empath75 9y ago
I always skim through the worst reviews for places, rather than the best reviews. Every good review is kind of the same, but bad reviews tell you useful information. If all the bad reviews are basically people complaining about minor service complaints, that’s usually a good sign. If they’re all about bugs or the rooms being dirty, etc, you should definitely have second thoughts.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  I’d add a third metric: reputation of the reviewer. Yelp is full of glowing 5 star, and damning 1 star reviews from people who only ever write that one review. They tend to be short, one or two sentences, and once you start looking they’re everywhere. Reputation can mean a lot, beyond just knowing who someone is.
- mattmanser 9y ago
  I find this very useful for Amazon reviews too. If all the 1-star reviews are complaints about delivery or nonsense like that, the product is good. If they're all calling out a specific condition or a bad design feature, that's more than likely an actual problem with the product (e.g. frequent dead pixels on monitors or hiss on wireless headphones or some other annoyance).
  - josephjrobison 9y ago
    I've recently been focused on the 2 or 3 star reviews because they're a bit more balanced and level-headed. Of course take it into the context of the overall rating distribution for the product.
  - baddox 9y ago
    Unless you want delivery.
    - derefr 9y ago
      But delivery problems usually have nothing to do with the seller and will happen pretty much to any product at random.
insanejudge 9y ago
weird to see someone unironically bragging about inventing the humblebrag.
Sam_Harris 9y ago
Unclosable pop-up window.
HillaryBriss 9y ago
for mobile development, maybe google should just "embrace the negative" instead of portraying the android ecosystem as a unicorn munching candy grass in a Bob Ross landscape
jeffnappi 9y ago
I already love Snowbird and spent several days there last year. I saw this ad posted on their Twitter account and thought it was pure genius. They hit the nail on the head, because I friggin love the challenging terrain there. Although my true love in Utah is Brighton Resort :) They probably have the same sort of rediculous "Oh my God there's 'too much' powder" reviews. For the record as long as there's not a lot of flat areas there's no such thing as too much powder ️️️
zaroth 9y ago
Saw this in the comments... >> I’m just a copywriter from Illinois who knows greatness when I see it. > Do you wear a monocle? If anyone ever gives me a monocle I will never stop wearing it. Luke, your monocle will arrive at the office on Tuesday.
- trukelayser 9y ago
  Received, thank you. The Internet is fun.
  - duck 9y ago
    The Internet is awesome... but more importantly, are you still wearing it?
    - trukelayser 9y ago
      Yes. My wife has gone from amused to angry to inconsolable. Great monocle, 1 out of 5 stars.
dahart 9y ago
The most famous example of this kind of ad is VW's "Lemon" and "Think Small" campaigns from around 1960. Google image search for "lemon ad". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Small https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Small
Doctor_Fegg 9y ago
A similar advert for the Welsh Tourist Board a few years back: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nick_Clifton/publication/233316800/figure/fig9/AS:300041102217223@1448546781581/Figure-9-Area-of-outstandingly-bad-mobile-reception.png https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nick_Clifton/publicatio...
whatusername 9y ago
There’s the movie poster with a 2 star review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend-review-movie-marketing-false-advertising https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend...
- minxomat 9y ago
  I didn't expect much from the abstract, but that's brilliant
Mz 9y ago
Scenery porn + minimal information dense copy that nails their value position and target market in a nutshell ("wusses -- like this reviewer -- need not apply") + understated contact info. It's a good formula to follow. You don't even need a 1 star review to follow it. Using a 1 star review as part of it has its own perks, like schadenfreude and irony and thought provoking plot twist. But, it isn't even essential to the basic brilliance of this piece.
vijayr02 9y ago
Reminds me of how the Grauniad's negative review of the movie Legend was spun: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend-review-movie-marketing-false-advertising https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend...
horsecaptin 9y ago
OP's company can do better than "Dare to be different" on their website after being inspired by all this amazing advertising.
rurban 9y ago
As austrian and ex-competitive skier I can recommend Snowbird and it's associated venues wholeheartedly. It's great, with easy and difficult slopes, and fantastic management. The only thing which I didn't like was the restaurant in Russian neo-oligarch St.Anton style at the top. But this was just the architecture. So they have it pretty easy to use such a review in their ads. The target audience knows how to take it

112 points by iamben 9y ago

Nothing like reframing the debate. Sort of like 1 star Amazon reviews where someone complains about never having to recharge a USB battery pack...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

gt_ 9y ago

I agree this is a good ad from a tourist perspective. The sad part is Snowbird is tracked within an hour after any snowfall. First tram up on a powder day at snowbird deserves all 5 stars but after that, it's a legitimate 1 star experience. EDIT: unless you spent the night in the canyon and an avalanche takes out the access road :)

dahart 9y ago
> First tram up on a powder day at Snowbird deserves all 5 stars but after that, it's a legitimate 1 star experience. If you're a spoiled local like me, and only 3 feet of powder, only in the chutes where everyone goes, if that's the only thing worth considering, then I can understand your statement there. But even though I'm spoiled, I've never had anything close to a 1 star experience at Snowbird even on the groomers. I've skied there in 30-below when the snow actually stops working, and I still wouldn't call it 1 star. 1 star is what you get on the east coast and in California, when you compare it to Utah. We don't even have 1 star anywhere in Utah. Anyway, hit more Mineral Basin, I can usually find powder there days after any snowfall. Or find a friend with the early bird pass, Tram opens at 7am for a few "lucky" people.
nether 9y ago
> The sad part is Snowbird is tracked within an hour after any snowfall Is there any resort where this is not the case?
- acchow 9y ago
  I don't think it's been like this in tahoe
- wtvanhest 9y ago
  I'm a solid intermediate snow boarder. Snowbird is uniquely steep/aggressive imo. Most other great mountains like Breck or whistler etc. have a combination of relaxing and tough. Snowbird just feels tough almost all the way down. Good snow probably makes snowbird amazing, limited or tracked snow sucks there more than other places imo.
- gt_ 9y ago
  Powder Mountain!
Mikeb85 9y ago
> The sad part is Snowbird is tracked within an hour after any snowfall. First tram up on a powder day at snowbird deserves all 5 stars but after that, it's a legitimate 1 star experience. And this is why I'm into ski touring these days. Crowds are minimal to non-existent.

ot 9y ago

Maybe they got the idea from Abstruse Goose http://www.abstrusegoose.com/527 http://www.abstrusegoose.com/527

CapitalistCartr 9y ago

The review says: "I've heard Snowbird is a tough mountain, but this is ridiculous. It felt like every trail was a steep chute or littered with tree wells. How is anyone supposed to ride in that? Not fun!" Greg, Los Angeles, CA

gingerlime 9y ago

I wonder how this can work in other cases though. After all, if their selling point is very difficult snow trails, and someone basically says that their trails are too difficult for him, then is it really a 1-star review? It's cool that they can do this, but very few businesses can rely on this extreme segmentation...

betenoire 9y ago
"this food is too spicy" at a mexican restaurant. "The rides made me want to throw up" at a wild carnival. They seem pretty easy to make. Find some feature, make it "intense", make someone whine about the intensity. But yeah, it's not really a 1 star review, the guy just doesn't get it, and we are in on the joke.
- baddox 9y ago
  My favorites are the 1 star reviews of national parks. Such reviews have gotten some coverage lately in online outdoor communities. They tend to be either wilderness aficionados complaining that too many people are there taking pictures, or unprepared visitors complaining about the lack of amenities. To be clear, I can understand both (particularly the former, geez Yosemite), but both are examples of realistic expectations not factoring into the reviews. One example: https://backpackers.com/20-hilarious-one-star-yelp-reviews-of-national-parks/ https://backpackers.com/20-hilarious-one-star-yelp-reviews-o...
  - PhantomGremlin 9y ago
    Those are great. My favorite is for Yellowstone National Park: It's like a bigger version of Central Park, only with bears.
- colechristensen 9y ago
  "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." "If nobody hates you, you’re doing something wrong" Trying to be all things to all people means you'll likely be exquisitely mediocre. Excellence very often comes out of limitations, and designing whom your product is _not_ intended for can be more powerful than the opposite. Using honest feedback from someone you intended to not serve is a clever tactic and building something to get reviews like that might improve your business.

empath75 9y ago

I always skim through the worst reviews for places, rather than the best reviews. Every good review is kind of the same, but bad reviews tell you useful information. If all the bad reviews are basically people complaining about minor service complaints, that’s usually a good sign. If they’re all about bugs or the rooms being dirty, etc, you should definitely have second thoughts.

QAPereo 9y ago
I’d add a third metric: reputation of the reviewer. Yelp is full of glowing 5 star, and damning 1 star reviews from people who only ever write that one review. They tend to be short, one or two sentences, and once you start looking they’re everywhere. Reputation can mean a lot, beyond just knowing who someone is.
mattmanser 9y ago
I find this very useful for Amazon reviews too. If all the 1-star reviews are complaints about delivery or nonsense like that, the product is good. If they're all calling out a specific condition or a bad design feature, that's more than likely an actual problem with the product (e.g. frequent dead pixels on monitors or hiss on wireless headphones or some other annoyance).
- josephjrobison 9y ago
  I've recently been focused on the 2 or 3 star reviews because they're a bit more balanced and level-headed. Of course take it into the context of the overall rating distribution for the product.
- baddox 9y ago
  Unless you want delivery.
  - derefr 9y ago
    But delivery problems usually have nothing to do with the seller and will happen pretty much to any product at random.

insanejudge 9y ago

weird to see someone unironically bragging about inventing the humblebrag.

Sam_Harris 9y ago

Unclosable pop-up window.

HillaryBriss 9y ago

for mobile development, maybe google should just "embrace the negative" instead of portraying the android ecosystem as a unicorn munching candy grass in a Bob Ross landscape

jeffnappi 9y ago

I already love Snowbird and spent several days there last year. I saw this ad posted on their Twitter account and thought it was pure genius. They hit the nail on the head, because I friggin love the challenging terrain there. Although my true love in Utah is Brighton Resort :) They probably have the same sort of rediculous "Oh my God there's 'too much' powder" reviews. For the record as long as there's not a lot of flat areas there's no such thing as too much powder ️️️

zaroth 9y ago

Saw this in the comments... >> I’m just a copywriter from Illinois who knows greatness when I see it. > Do you wear a monocle? If anyone ever gives me a monocle I will never stop wearing it. Luke, your monocle will arrive at the office on Tuesday.

trukelayser 9y ago
Received, thank you. The Internet is fun.
- duck 9y ago
  The Internet is awesome... but more importantly, are you still wearing it?
  - trukelayser 9y ago
    Yes. My wife has gone from amused to angry to inconsolable. Great monocle, 1 out of 5 stars.

dahart 9y ago

The most famous example of this kind of ad is VW's "Lemon" and "Think Small" campaigns from around 1960. Google image search for "lemon ad". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Small https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Small

Doctor_Fegg 9y ago

A similar advert for the Welsh Tourist Board a few years back: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nick_Clifton/publication/233316800/figure/fig9/AS:300041102217223@1448546781581/Figure-9-Area-of-outstandingly-bad-mobile-reception.png https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nick_Clifton/publicatio...

whatusername 9y ago

There’s the movie poster with a 2 star review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend-review-movie-marketing-false-advertising https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend...

minxomat 9y ago
I didn't expect much from the abstract, but that's brilliant

Mz 9y ago

Scenery porn + minimal information dense copy that nails their value position and target market in a nutshell ("wusses -- like this reviewer -- need not apply") + understated contact info. It's a good formula to follow. You don't even need a 1 star review to follow it. Using a 1 star review as part of it has its own perks, like schadenfreude and irony and thought provoking plot twist. But, it isn't even essential to the basic brilliance of this piece.

vijayr02 9y ago

Reminds me of how the Grauniad's negative review of the movie Legend was spun: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend-review-movie-marketing-false-advertising https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/09/legend...

horsecaptin 9y ago

OP's company can do better than "Dare to be different" on their website after being inspired by all this amazing advertising.

rurban 9y ago

As austrian and ex-competitive skier I can recommend Snowbird and it's associated venues wholeheartedly. It's great, with easy and difficult slopes, and fantastic management. The only thing which I didn't like was the restaurant in Russian neo-oligarch St.Anton style at the top. But this was just the architecture. So they have it pretty easy to use such a review in their ads. The target audience knows how to take it