Skipedia

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...

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’),...

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...

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...

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...

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

Advertising / Marketing

Travel Heat Map by Google shows importance of Search

by iain on Dec 10, 2013 • No Comments

This study was performed a couple of years ago, but all the data still has relevance for companies working within the travel industry. The research was made in the Google Shopper Sciences ‘Zero Moment of Truth‘ study in March 2011 and looked at the actions of 500 consumers in the Travel industry. The heat map...

Advertising

K2 accused of using sex to sell ski boots

by iain on Dec 5, 2013 • No Comments

K2 have been accused of resorting to sexist imagery to sell their ski boots. We feel its only fair to reproduce their ad, purely so you can make up your own mind about this gratuitous sexism: It appears creators of the K2 Pinnacle 130 ski boot have no shame, as they have even posted a ‘Making...

Events

The Freeze Festival moves to Clapham Common

by iain on Nov 29, 2013 • No Comments

After five years at the Battersea Power Station, the (London) Freeze Festival has dropped the London from its title and moved to Clapham Common. We dropped by on the opening night to see how it looked, and if any marketing or businesses stood out. Retro Rentals This is one business that may do well at Freeze – Retro...

Advertising

“I’m having a fag!” – Tobacco Ads and Skiing

by iain on Nov 26, 2013 • No Comments

If you were around back in the 90s, you might remember the Red Ski Tour that used to visit the Alps. While aerial skiers dressed in red one-pieces would perform flips over a kicker, the MC would shout out cryptic messages for the crowd: ‘I’m not allowed to tell you the name of tonight’s sponsors,...

Ideas

The 100 Rouble Olympic Snowboarder (now available on ebay)

by iain on Nov 21, 2013 • 1 Comment

To celebrate the impending Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia has minted a new 100 Rouble note with a snowboarder design. A mere 100,000 have been printed, with the snowboarder image on one site and the main stadium of the Games on the other side. Available on ebay If you can’t make it to Russia for...

Social Media

9 Social Media Facts about the 2013 John Lewis Christmas Ad

by iain on Nov 12, 2013 • No Comments

Did you know there was a new advert for a shop? Yes, the annual new Christmas ad for John Lewis is now an ‘event’ worthy of reporting by the media. Surely you must have seen it already, so here’s some spurious facts about the coverage it has generated: 1. It cost a lot £1 million for an...

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