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,...
After our post about the ski companies of 1984, we ran this item about Swans’ ski brochure from 1979/80. Of course we knew there were older brochures, and now thanks to John Ward at Erna Low, we think we’ve found the oldest – this marvelous example from 1948. And of course, if you can beat...
After our looks at the Top Ten Ski Resorts in France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland (and Scotland), we thought it might be interesting to see how they compare across counties: The Top 10 European Ski Resorts on Facebook 1. Megeve, France – 79312 fans 2. Portes du Soleil, France – 53705 3. Grand Valira, Andorra – 49810 4. Saalbach Hinterglemm,...
With the Facebook Timeline deadline for brand Pages coming up on 30 March 2012, we’ve taken a look at how twelve of the UK’s leading ski tour operators are using Timeline so far. The companies are not necessarily the twelve largest. Indeed the UK’s largest ski company – Crystal Ski – has still to make the switch to Timeline....
With Facebook’s IPO coming up fast, the company is working hard to add on new revenue streams. Almost unnoticed during last month’s announcement that brand Pages would be converting to Timeline was Facebook’s new ‘Premium Offers’ for brands. Mike Hoefflinger, Director of Global Business Marketing of Facebook described Premium Offers as ‘the best way to get...
It all started with Old Spice. They saw their sales double thanks to their infamous and innovative YouTube campaign in 2010. Surely you must have seen it? Still, it’s always worth watching again… This campaign included creating individually tailored video answers to comments made online… Despite its incredible success, Old Spice raised the bar again...
Plenty of brands sponsor snow parks, but not many make one of the key features a super-sized version of their logo. But that’s what Oakley have done in Cauterets in the Pyrenees. A 14m module incorporating a huge Oakley logo was shipped in from Sweden and transferred to the Snowpark by helicopter Cauterets is perhaps...
