Last week I had the chance to grab lunch with a ski writer, originally from Rio, who now lives in Edwards, CO.

After a decade in journalism followed by another 10 years that were capped with seeing the benefits of social media for a music and then video game brand, Claudio Campos had some very unique insights to share as he’s combined these skills with his passion for skiing by writing ski articles for the biggest magazines in Brazil and heading up non-English social media for travel brands.

No Falo
I don’t speak Portuguese (as clearly indicated by my header image) and I don’t speak Spanish, so, for the most part, I’ve been ignorant to these two groups that are becoming more and more important to major brands. Which brands, you ask? Just take a look at the resorts that have partnered with American Airlines and their “Ski Club” in Brazil:

• Aspen/Snowmass
• Beaver Creek
• Breckenridge
• Canyons Resort
• Deer Valley
• Heavenly
• Jackson Hole
• Keystone
• Mammoth
• Northstar
• Park City
• Steamboat
• Telluride
• Vail

They’re chasing them for good reason. South American skiers share a few, common characteristics that are especially attractive during low-snow years:

• Lower skill level: most aren’t expert skiers which means they are more than happy with marginal conditions and are often looking to take lessons.
• Longer lead time: because they’re traveling farther, they book further in advance.
• More open spending: especially true for Brazil, they aren’t shy to splurge on vacations. They very much want to live the lifestyle.

It’s little wonder then that with a insider insight in how to appeal to this crowd, Claudio has been able to build up some significant followings pretty quickly:

• Park City, Utah (Brazil) – Portuguese – 10,157 fans
• Esqui y Nieve – Spanish – 5,767 fans
• Esqui e Neve – Portuguese – 21,350 fans

So, my question is this: which resort(s) will be the first to keep try to keep their brand top of mind in these groups with a simple social media profile?

The Competition
A social media account in Portuguese isn’t going a one-stop solution, but I think it’s a good first step. Over 1/3 of Brazilians are on Facebook (which is significant when you consider just a couple years ago Orkut was king), which is 88% penetration of their online population.

So I guess my question again is this: who will be the first to go beyond translation on their domains and dedicate a unique online presence to this growing group of skiers? I hate to push one solution, but Claudio isn’t some fresh college grad, he knows what it takes to get something like this rolling and would be a great resource to start with.

Either way, I’m very interested to see which resort takes this step first (or politely informs me that they’re already been doing this and I’m out of the loop).

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.