Thoughts on Snowsports

Iain Martin, The Ski Podcast

The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday
Ideas / Tour Operators

The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday

by iain on Sep 25, 2023 • 8 Comments
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...
Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?  
Ideas

Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?  

by iain on May 11, 2023 • No Comments
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’),...
'Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines' - article in 'Ski+Board' magazine
Iain / Ideas / Tour Operators

‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines’ – article in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine

by iain on Mar 8, 2023 • 3 Comments
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...
Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay
Iain / Resorts

Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay

by iain on Feb 8, 2019 • No Comments
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...
'I'm a modern-day Batman' says anti-ESF campaigner
Resorts / Tour Operators

‘I’m a modern-day Batman’ says anti-ESF campaigner

by iain on Nov 2, 2014 • No Comments
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...
Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?
Tour Operators

Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?

by iain on Aug 13, 2011 • 2 Comments
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,...
Latest entries
Do you monitor your brand on Twitter…?
Branding / Social Media

Do you monitor your brand on Twitter…?

by iain on Sep 15, 2011 • No Comments
There’s no shortage of people who like to use Twitter to talk about themselves, but how many use it for listening? There are so many great tools out there for monitoring Twitter (we use both Tweetdeck and Hootsuite) that there is really no excuse for not doing it. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, there’s only one thing...
Is it time you employed a Community Manager?
Marketing / Social Media

Is it time you employed a Community Manager?

by iain on Sep 15, 2011 • 1 Comment
If you’re going to take social media seriously and develop a strategy within your company [and why wouldn’t you?], you may want to employ someone in a new and emerging role that is becoming common within the social sphere – the Community Manager. Who is the Community Manager? The Community Manager is an individual who...
How The North Face backed the right horse...
Branding / Events

How The North Face backed the right horse…

by iain on Sep 12, 2011 • 1 Comment
The North Face Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc (UTMB), now in its 9th year, is now established as the unofficial world summit of trail running. With 7200 runners from 62 nations taking part, all of whom had to qualify to be able to compete, the event is the largest on the calendar. Great positioning for The...
What is the point of using QR codes online?
Marketing / Mobile / Social Media

What is the point of using QR codes online?

by iain on Sep 9, 2011 • 3 Comments
Yesterday, the excellent London Freeze event posted a QR code onto our Facebook page. No problem with that. It’s great use of Facebook, but we found the image they posted interesting – a QR code, with the instruction to get out your smart phone and scan it to get a 10% discount on tickets. Isn’t...
Red Bull bring us 'The Art of Flight'
Branding / Marketing

Red Bull bring us ‘The Art of Flight’

by iain on Sep 3, 2011 • No Comments
If you’re a snowsports fan then you’ll have seen one link shared again and again in the last few months: the trailer for ‘The Art of Flight’. Two years in the making, ‘The Art of Flight’ is a film worth mentioning as it really does seem to be meeting Red Bull‘s claim that it’s ‘redefining what...
Oakley Europe use Facebook Check-In promotion
Marketing / Mobile / Social Media

Oakley Europe use Facebook Check-In promotion

by iain on Sep 2, 2011 • 1 Comment
We liked this current Facebook promotion by Oakley Europe.  Very simple, but very effective.   All you have to do is to show that you’ve checked-in on Facebook when you make a purchase and you get a free T-shirt. Okay, there have been a few negative comments about the fact the offer is only available at...

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email

Follow Skipedia

RSS Feed

Categories

Archives

© 2011 Skipedia | Site Map | Google+

Designed by Skipedia



The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. Please feel free to support or disagree with me in the comments section of each blog entry.