squaw valley

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law last month to remove the word ‘Squaw’ from nearly 100 landmarks and place names across California. Native Americans and others are celebrating the new law because they find the term 'Squaw' offensive. But in Squaw Valley, an unincorporated area outside of Fresno, some residents want to keep the name. And Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig is siding with them.  Read the transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times reporter Lila Seidman

More reading: New law will remove the word ‘squaw’ from California place names

Native Americans want to ditch the name Squaw Valley. A county supervisor says context matters

Retiring its racist name, historic Squaw Valley resort will become Palisades Tahoe

Jean Vuarnet was a French ski instructor and ski racer in the 1950s who ended his career with one epic run at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic games.  With his sharp eye for innovation and technology, he adopted the latest innovations to prepare for the 1960 Olympic Games and set the stage for his second career as a business man. 

Welcome to the OneSignal podcast where we aim to educate ourselves on product, industry and best practices as it relates to building and growing a customer messaging practice, hosted by Josh Wetzel. 

We're excited to be joined this episode by Tracy Chang, Squaw Valley Holdings Vice President of Digital Marketing.  Tracy has been working at Squaw Valley Holdings for more than 8 years, and in the winter resort business marketing industry for the past 14 years.   She joins us to discuss how Squaw Alpine has leveraged digital to iterate and improve the resort experience.   

“OneSignal’s push notifications have been instrumental in helping us to reach our goals. We use (them) throughout our user’s journey...It is these micro-moments that help us build a deep relationship with our users.”  

Show Notes:
(0:20) Intro - Tracy Chang - VP Digital Marketing, Squaw Valley Holdings

(6:30) General Innovation - Tracy discusses how they are working to improve the customer experience to reach new customers and improve their experience. Using new technology such as the Apple Watch.  

(10:30) Experimenting with New Technology - Tracy discusses how SquawAlpine has jumped on new technology, such as Apple’s ARKit, to build new visitor functionality, however in the case of ARKit, they didn’t release the innovation.  

(12:30) Digital Deals Drive Engagement - Tracy talks about how their digital engagement goal is to be hyper-relevant.  

• “OneSignal’s push notifications have been instrumental in helping us to reach our goals.  They are quick to implement and use. We use push notifications throughout our user’s journey."  Tracy mentions how from signup to village arrival, visitors are provided weather and terrain updates.  They even use it for crowd management.  "On weekends there is a mass exodus at 4, if traffic is backed up, we can send a push about an apres-ski special to wait out the traffic.”
• “We know each user can easily turn off notifications or even uninstall our app so it’s important to us that we allow our users to signup for what’s relevant to them.”
• “We will utilize more OneSignal’s In-App messaging to educate users on the importance of providing a location, not to stalk them but to alert them of offers and experience while visiting”
• “It is these micro-moments that help us build a deep relationship with our users.”  

(16:45) App Exceeds Web Traffic - SquawAlpine saw app engagement exceed the web and other channels, it’s becoming the primary channel to interact with its visitors.  

This week, Liam brings the Foodie Chap chat to Santa Rosa at the World Central Kitchen with Chef Elsa Corrigan of Mamasake in Squaw Valley | Each week, the KCBS Radio Foodie Chap, Liam Mayclem introduces us to the culinary stars behind the food & wine loved by so many in the Bay Area.