The .ski (dot ski) domain arrives
Just over a year ago, we reported that the new .ski (dot ski) domain would be coming soon to the Internet. This project has been developed by StartingDot – a startup which raised €1.5 million to create new Top-Level Domains. .ski will be the first ski specific domain name extension. Potential 110m registrants...
Why Les Menuires are wasting their advertising budget
This advert by the French ski resort of Les Menuires (taken from ‘Ski and Board’ magazine) struck me as a classic example of an advertiser thinking about what works for them rather than what will work for their target market. On the face of it , it’s a cute idea. What is the inscrutable Bombadier...
Natives (1999-2011)
Post-seasons my first UK-based job was with Crystal Holidays as Product Manager on their schools programme. This was before Crystal had been purchased by TUI in 1998 and it was still independent and extremely dynamic. I worked very closely with some of the key figures that had driven the company’s success and was lucky enough...
My first ski business (1985-1988)
I arrived at Birmingham University to discover that I wasn’t quite as good a skier as I had thought. I made the ‘B’ Team in my first year, racing in Alpe d’Huez and quickly became involved in the ski club. By the second year, I was on the committee and effectively running my first ski business. We were the...
How to get twice as much value from your sponsorship
‘Sponsor pulls out of Oxford and Cambridge skiing trip after students strip off in the snow’. These were the shocking headlines that recently greeted readers of the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. Scott Dunn, the upmarket tour operator, agreed to sponsor the Valley Rally at Varsity Trip TwentyTen – 2500 Oxbridge students on holiday in Val...