Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. on Friday announced that it has "settled a lawsuit against Visit Salt Lake involving Steamboat's trademarked Ski Town U.S.A. brand," according to Matt Stensland of the STEAMBOAT PILOT & TODAY. Visit Salt Lake has "agreed to revise its campaign in a way that is acceptable to both parties." Visit Salt Lake’s website "now boasts itself as a 'Ski City' but they have removed the 'USA' reference." Its original promotional video on the site "has been edited to take out references to 'Ski City USA.'" Visit Salt Lake "launched Ski City USA on Sept. 16 and announced the tagline: 'Once you’ve stayed in Ski City, you’ll never stay in a ski town.'" The promotion involved a $1.8M advertising campaign "aimed at driving people to www.skicityusa.com." Ski Corp. filed the lawsuit in federal court Oct. 3 "after sending a cease and desist letter to Visit Salt Lake on Sept. 26" (STEAMBOATTODAY.com, 11/14). In Denver, Jason Blevins noted Steamboat's lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver argued that Visit Salt Lake's campaign "piggybacked Steamboat's 55-year-old Ski Town USA brand." Visit Salt Lake argued that its campaign "actually spotlights the differences between the urban and rural ski experience." The city's campaign "emerged after a Utah Office of Tourism poll found more than half of survey respondents said they saw Denver when shown photos of Salt Lake City's peak-hemmed skyline." The campaign "was designed to entice skiers away from Colorado with a one-of-a-kind urban ski experience." The Ski City USA's kick-off video "mixed clips of hoisted beers and boozy nightlife with powder shots and lonely slopes" (DENVER POST, 11/15). In Salt Lake City, Mike Gorrell noted the campaign's web address "has been changed, from www.SkiCityUSA.com to www.visitsaltlake.com/skicity." Visit Salt Lake President & CEO Scott Beck said that "everything that Salt Lake’s campaign hoped to emphasize is still intact" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 11/15).
