Looking through a recent survey from Le Ski, I was struck by one stat in particular. While it was encouraging to read that the number of UK skiers and snowboarders is predicted to grow by 14% in winter 2023/24, the fact that only 13% stay in catered chalets highlighted how...
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing fast. A few years ago, it was just the name of one of Steven Spielberg’s less good movies, but in 2023 AI has moved from the world of ‘futurologists’ into the mainstream. The chances are that even if you haven’t tried ChatGPT (or Google’s ‘Bard’),...
Iain’s article ‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines‘ has now been published in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine. It’s also now available as a special episode of The Ski Podcast My first experience of working in the ski industry came 35 years ago when I went to Chatel...
Iain from Skipedia recently went ski touring in Morocco. Flying into Marrakech, and then travelling to Imlil (1740m), Iain then spent three nights at the Refuge des Mouflons (3207m), ski touring to different 4000m peaks. Ski hire was from Braemar Mountain Sports, guiding and logistics were organised by Toubkal Guide. You...
These are difficult days for the ESF in the UK. The current legal cases against Simon Butler and Le Ski have stirred up plenty of negative sentiment within the British market against the ESF. Both cases – which deal with different aspects of the law – are currently at different...
Okay, not strictly anything to do with marketing, but just for fun… So why do chalet girls bake a cake every day? As far as I know chalets have always left out a cake for their guests to tuck into for ‘afternoon tea’. After a long day on the slopes,...
We were very impressed to see that the Scottish Ski and Snowboard Show is running a TV advert for the show. As far as we know this is the only time a UK show has been promoted via television (please feel free to correct us), so it’s great to see some bullish activity promoting the...
The Facebook Profile changes again Many Facebook users are still struggling to get used to the recent changes, but that is nothing compared with what is to come. Last week Facebook announced the new ‘Timeline’ profile page and we at Skipedia have been looking into what that will mean to individuals and brands. What will...
There’s plenty of action sports around these days, and ‘highliners’ push it to limits. They love a lot of air between them and the ground. And the more dizzying the spot, the better! If you’ve seen any of the work of Seb Montaz, you’ll know to expect something special. This video, shot in Paris, follows...
You will have heard of Groupon, and its competitor, Living Social. Both are phenonoma, with the former often quoted as the fastest growing company of all time. ‘Discounting tarnishes the ski industry as a brand’ It’s recognised that one of the key challenges the industry faces is persuading consumers to book in advance, rather than...
We thought this is an interesting development from Red Bull, since their last more traditional campaign. This fusion of classical music and breakdancing is that far outside the usual stereotype of adrenalin-fired events,that it stands a great chance of breaking through the ‘action sports’ clutter: Viral video by ebuzzing
You may have noticed our Tweet about this yesterday, but Shaun White, Olympic gold medal winning snowboarder, and one of the few snowsports stars to make it to superstardom, has attached his name to a new minty chewing gum. White will appeal to younger chewers ‘Whitemint’, produced by Kraft Foods is unusual in that it...
