Every January for the last handful of years I’ve been making predictions – 2014 was no exception. Those predictions were, in order:

1. A Mid-Sized, Eastern (or Joint Onwership) Pass Partnership Will be Formed
2. The Meteoric Rise of the Non-Core Marketer in Skiing
3. The Triumphant Return of Email

So, how did I do? I thought you’d never ask.

1) A Mid-Sized, Eastern (or Joint Onwership) Pass Partnership Will be Formed
Result: CORRECT
This one might have been the safest bet of the lot, and sure enough it seems I got it right. There were three specifics I suggested might be part of it.

• Mid-sized resorts
• New England or mid-atlantic focus
• Common ownership

While non fit the bill of all three, the Freedom Pass certainly matched the first two and the Intrawest Passport falls under number three. This year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the same.

2) The Meteoric Rise of the Non-Core Marketer in Skiing
Result: WRONG
For some reason I can’t just predict moderate change, because that’s what happened. Did we see a “meteoric” rise in non-core resort marketers? No. Did we see a few here and there? Yes.

I was expecting this to be the year the industry tested this idea a bit more and reached out to other sectors to bring in people with incredible strengths in areas we haven’t yet developed as industry. Didn’t happen this year, maybe next.

3) The Triumphant Return of Email
Result: CORRECT
You’re probably saying, “Big surprise, Gregg, half of your posts were about email this year.” To which I’d respond, “Yes, but the biggest innovation had very little to do with what I wrote about.”

Truth be told, I could see this one coming and knew it had happened because of my “day job” at Ryan Solutions. As I mentioned on Monday, I don’t write about everything and this is one of those cases. Some of this stuff was really effective and impressive and it simply wouldn’t be fair to share it.

What a Minute
I know what some of you are saying, “Um, Gregg, you had FOUR predictions last year.” Well, yeah, sorta.

My last prediction was that this disconnect between the behavior of skiers and the stereotypes surrounding climate change would finally mix like mentos and coke to spark a backlash against the “save winter” movement that we’d have no control over. I made it under the disclaimer that it “may not happen in 2014 and it may not be bigger than a local paper” but it would happen…eventually.

This year has only heightened my concerns over this idea. I simply don’t feel that skiers themselves (resorts as a brand are another story) are the right ones to carry this torch.

We’ll see how it goes in 2015.

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.