I’m writing this post on February 13. And I’m telling you this because by the time you read these words (a week later), the Harlem Shake could be a think of the past. Such if is our day and age.

Today, however, this video trend is much like “Sh*t _______ Say” was last year.

Shake-n-Bake
Though apparently nothing like the actual Harlem Shake, each video starts with multiple people in view but only one (typically with some sort of mask on) is dancing to a specific song by Baauer. Once the main beat starts, cut to the same shot but with everyone dancing and often wearing costumes. Like so:

So, what did Copper do? Record a version of their own:

Within a few hours of the video going live, Aspen gave them props for being quick on the draw with their “Beat us to it. Tip of the hat. Great work.” comment below the video. Then, more and more resorts jumped on the bandwagon:

Jay Peak

Whistler/Blackcomb

Aspen/Snowmass

Sunshine Village

Windham

Kicking Horse

Brighton

Boston Mills / Brandywine

Stratton

But not everyone was a fan of what resorts were doing:

What “Should Have” Happened
Honestly, I liked the first few Harlem Shake videos I saw. Then, with the exception of maybe Copper, the rest (including ski resorts) were increasingly painful to watch.

According to the sock, the videos that ruined the meme should have been disliked, rarely watched, and hated. According to my quick burnout, you’d expect a similar result: few views and lots of annoyed skiers.

What Actually Happened
Instead, the videos above have been watched a combined 80,000 times, liked over 500 times and disliked just 25 times.

Haters will hate, socks will blame resorts for ruining memes, marketers will get burned out on trends, but it’s the skiers and boarders that matter. In this case, they voted for branded Harlem Shake videos with their views and likes.

If you make it, they like it, and it fits your brand, it’s tough to see a reason why you can’t jump on.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.