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,...
Social media in the UK exploded when Jenny Jones won her bronze medal in the Snowboard Slopestyle. Twitter has gone mad for Jenny Jones Her Twitter following skyrocketed from 6000 to 60000 in 48 hours and is now up to 70000. Twitter Reach shows that since just 9am today her name has been included in...
If you are UK-based, then you probably watched (or have at least heard of) the Alpine-themed TV show’The Jump’, recently broadcast on Channel 4. Okay, so it’s not likely to win any BAFTAs, but for its genre – and for snowsports fans – it was decent entertainment. Watching C-list celebrities have a panic attack while flying...
In the last few years, we’ve seen many innovative campaigns by ski resorts using social media. Some have worked, some have sunk like a stone, but few have been as successful as the pre-season Facebook promotion by the Grand Massif region in France. Pre-season opening promoted exclusively on Facebook After the great snow that fell in...
The Canadian Olympic Committee have threatened legal action against winter wear manufacturer, The North Face. The dispute is over a range of clothing that The North Face have produced in advance of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, in their ‘International Collection’. Ambush marketing? As The North Face are not an official sponsor of the Games,...
Keyrings, USB sticks, beanies, cups, wristbands…there’s no shortage of marketing freebies that companies produce. Most of them are immediately forgettable. The goggle wipe that we received today from Inghams was a pleasant change. Great content The image on the wipe is a superb piece of content marketing in itself. Click on the image and you...
Last January we reported on Intersport Ski Hire’s great guerrilla campaign on the Paris Metro. On that occasion, they took over a Metro station for the morning, getting the brand out in front of potential customers and creating a social buzz. These new videos, posted to YouTube this week, shows that their intrepid skiers are...
