11 Dollar Bill helped capture the spirit of adventure, spectacular views and downhill fun offered by Colorado’s longest continuously operating ski resort in a new campaign for Winter Park. Conceived by strategic communications agency BravoEcho and produced by Natives Outdoors, the ten spots are meant to inspire skiers and snowboarders of all abilities by highlighting unforgettable moments at the mountain resort.
If Your Favorite Breakfast Venue Is a Parking Lot, You’re In focuses on hardcore skiers and boarders who eat breakfast in mountain parking lots, use duct tape to patch holes in their gloves and keep bacon as snacks in their packs. The visuals show a group of powderhounds joyfully tackling a pristine, backcountry slope.
If You Think Pizza and French Fries Are Healthy Family Values centers on a six-year-old girl who overcomes her anxiety with a little help from a six-foot skiing dog. Other spots feature skiers climbing a mountain in the dark or night, a young woman in search of the tallest peak and an older woman overcoming her fears in her first ski lesson.
“We highlight moments that are typically ignored in ski advertising—the hard work, the cold, the obstacles, the triumphs—and celebrate them,” says BravoEcho Principal and Creative Director Olaf Richter. “These are emotional stories that capture experiences both veteran skiers and first timers can relate to.”
11 Dollar Bill provided editorial, visual effects and finishing for the campaign. Editor Erik Tobeler was tasked with weaving, tight narratives from source media captured documentary-style with a variety of gear under diverse and often challenging circumstances. Chief Creative Officer Christian Robins handled visual effects. “We needed a local partner that was comfortable with being handed a day’s worth of footage and turning it into awesome stories,” observes Richter. “There were picture challenges and audio challenges in dealing with footage from many different sources and 11 Dollar Bill’s attitude was, ‘No problem. We’ll take care of it.’”
Tobeler, who has a deep background in outdoor and adventure filmmaking, says the quality and spontaneity of the cinematography provided great material for exciting, wintertime stories. “Moonlight was a fun one for me,” he says. “It was mostly shot at night and captured unique experiences offered by Winter Park…climbing up at 4:00 in the morning to be first on the mountain.”
If You Think Pizza and French Fries Are Healthy Family Values, You’re In presented a different storytelling challenge centering on the nervousness and emotions of people, young and old, on the slopes for the first time. “This campaign resonates with people, whether they’ve been involved in winter sports all their lives, like me, or never been on skis before,” he says. “It’s unique and powerful.”
The familiarity with Colorado ski culture with the whole 11 Dollar Bill team helped push the project over the top. “They have great talent who understood our vision and approach,” says Richter. “They also introduced us to wonderful resources for sound design and music—which were critical to this campaign. It was a joy to partner with them.”
About 11 Dollar Bill
11 Dollar Bill is an innovative post-production studio specializing in creative design, editorial and finishing. Our internal talent and extensive creative network allow us to create custom teams tailored specifically to each project. This modular approach makes our workflow efficient, keeping us less reactionary and ready to create with you. We build lasting relationships with our clients because of the trust established by our expertise in editorial, high-end visual effects, motion graphics, 3D animation and the entire post process.
