Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
During discussion of work practice, informants began to mention management actions and their
impact upon the culture of Cardrona. Paul continued on this theme and gave an example that
he perceived as a means to maintain the culture:
I worked in Canada and a lad that I met over in Canada said to me 'what's Cardies like?' and
I said 'ah it's awesome' and he said 'can I use you as a reference?' and I said 'yeah if you want,
absolutely not a problem'. My supervisor, whose dual-cert means he can teach snowboarding
and skiing, he's a trainer and my boss over in Canada said 'oh I'm applying to your
place' and I said 'oh well if you want just use my name as a referee, and I've got no problem
giving you a reference'. He said 'nah it's alright don't need it'. I said 'okay sweet', my mate
got the job, my boss didn't because as long as you do a good job then they (Cardrona
management) knows that you are only going to bring likeminded people with you. And
it goes on recommendation all the time.
Through these descriptions and articulations of work practices we can see how seasonal workers
transfer their understanding of the destination brand culture into their work practices. These
seasonal workers have become evangelical brand ambassadors for Cardrona seeking to create a
sense of unique customer experience within the destination that actually contributes to the
meaning of the destination brand itself.
The three themes mapped in the fi ndings discussion both support and contradict the literature
by supporting claims that brand culture for these seasonal workers is tangible, in the sense that
they can describe it in depth and are deeply affected by it in both their work and leisure spheres.
These seasonal workers are evangelical brand ambassadors who create a sense of unique customer
experience within the destination that actually contributes to the meaning of the destination
brand itself for their experience and that of the customer. The contradiction is that the workers
do not see themselves as
contributing
towards the brand culture but as
key
authors of the brand
culture. They see themselves as envied in their lifestyle choice; their perception of work as an
inseparable part of their style of life and the enormous enjoyment they derive from interaction
with the brand of Cardrona though being part of the seasonal workers' community all contribute
towards the responsibility they hold for the brand culture. It would seem that this responsibility
is not taken lightly by seasonal workers, counter to earlier literature. As actors engaged in the
interpretation and production of brand culture, it seems the management should take care to
support their active and self directed culture production as it is an asset that would be hard
to value or replace.
Conclusions
In conclusion and supportive of the work of Bengtsson
et al
. (2005), Kates (2004), Kozinets
(2002) and Muniz and O'Guinn (2001), seasonal workers take the destination brand of Cardrona
and create independent and personally constructed meaning about their related style of life that
blends leisure and work seamlessly. They articulate very little work related tension when narrating
their experience of the brand culture which recognizes the importance of a sense of community
and an evangelical love of the actual work. The brand culture as understood by these seasonal
workers may refl ect the managerial perspective but does not seem to be derived from them.
Brand culture at Cardrona is created through experience and the management are noticeably
absent in most of these informants' accounts, whereas comparisons against a 'feared other life',
what they could be doing if there were not at Cardrona, seems to inspire a great appreciation of
the fun and family friendly experience available at Cardrona. This 'other' life that these seasonal
