A hill with trails may be skiable, but until it has a chair running to the top we usually don’t call it a ski area.

Lifts are an inextricable thread woven into ski culture. We celebrate the first and retire those past their prime on our porches. It seems we all have a fun story or moment or realization that happened on a chair. Even now, sitting at our computers, we can instantly recall the sound of a double chair slowly bouncing across a series of squeaky sheaves or feel the acceleration and swing of a high speed quad before it regrips the line.

Turns out, ski lifts make a great setting for resort marketing content as well. This week I want to highlight three such campaigns. Some I’ve covered before, some are new, but I hope they’ll remind us of the perfect stage a triple chair can be for creating content.

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Papa Charlie’s is a restaurant and music venue at Lutsen. It also happens to be just a few steps away from the gondola.

Somewhere along the line some clever person realized that,

“Hey, a gondola ride is about the same length as a number and short interview. Why don’t we put the performers on a quick lap and record what happens?”

And Lutsen’s Gondola Sessions were born.

First, the music.

It’s good, surprisingly good. I’m not master of acoustics, but the gondola cabin maintains a really solid sound from every band or singer I’ve ever seen featured.

Second, the interviews.

I’m not quite sure why, but musicians tend to give really good interviews. Maybe it’s just the way their brains work, but even in these short, to-the-point Q&As they manage some fun, entertaining responses.

Finally, the unique nature of it all.

Putting a concert in a gondola is, in itself, a fun idea. When you get a some strings and percussion in there as well, the concert would rival any of the upcoming shows in New York.

These gondola sessions benefit from the same simple, quick-creation approach as On the Lift With that I mentioned on Monday making it virtually impossible to not come out on top when it comes to ROI.

Shot on what I’m guessing is also a GoPro, many of these videos feature no editing at all and, start to finish, likely take less than an hour of one person’s time.

Simple concept, well executed, and a great promotional too for the venue, the gondola, and the resort as a whole.

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.