Let’s talk about EpicMix. Again.

To me, it’s not a matter of a fun topic, it’s a vital one that we aren’t discussing enough simply because they haven’t released a major update in a while.

Yet this season hundreds of thousands of Vail Resorts skiers will take part in a motivation, marketing system that no other resort in the country has.

What We Know
I’ve written a lot about EpicMix, so let me quickly bring those lessons full circle in a quick recap. EpicMix…

Is a game that is played by skiing.

Boosts renewal rates by automatically motivating skiers to ski more which increases the likelihood they’ll renew.

Is a factory that turns the skiing experience into quantifiable bits of content.

Is a marketing tool that streamlines the process of sharing this content.

Makes skiing “accomplishable” by turning parts of the ski experience into goals with branded, quanitifiable, virtual rewards.

A guest behavior goldmine with deep insights into how skiers move between lifts and runs.

Solo, Together
Each one of those elements is powerful on it’s own.

Boosting pass usage is like marketing preventative maintenance that saves money down the line. Content is on the lips of most marketers while creating it remains a challenge. Resort fans doing the sharing remains one of the most powerful actions a social media manager can motivate.

A system that does all of these things, and more, is worthy of our attention.

The Plan
So, this week, we’re going to dig deeper and talk about:

• What we’ve learned so far from the data within the “quantified skier” movement
• What actual skiers (not marketers) think of EpicMix and a key takeaway from their insights
• The potential of the data a system like EpicMix is generating.
• The costs and math behind the system (i.e., was it worth it for Vail Resorts?)

Right off the bat, what do you think of EpicMix? If I called you on the phone right now and said, “is EpicMix the future of skiing or an unnecessary add-on?” how would you respond?

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.