This week I’ll be reporting some of the marketing goodness that came from this year’s NSAA National Convention and Tradeshow. It was great to meet many of you and many thanks again to NSAA for providing a press pass on such short notice.

Truth be told, there weren’t tons of resort marketing companies represented at the tradeshow portion of the proceedings but there were many attending without a booth I was lucky enough to bump into. Here are a few that caught my eye.

EPOP STUDIO
I first heard about this company about a week before the convention when they replied to the “Are you attending…” question on the SAM Magazine Facebook wall. Small, yet talented, they do great design, print, and web work, but they are also highly skilled iPhone/iPad app developers. Their app for Perfect North was recently featured in SAM’s article that featured the best in resort advertising. Steve Pope, the owner, was down to earth, not salesy, and easy to talk to.
Website: http://epopstudio.com/

TREELINE INTERACTIVE
I had never even heard of Treeline and even if I hadn’t met Jason Van Peeren, Treenline’s Director of Mobile Applications, I would have heard from the Founder, Jake Fields, on a couple of panels. Jason showed me a few things they were working on with mobile which more than impressed but that was just the tip of the iceberg. They created an impressive athlete management system for the X-Games as well as an Addy Award winning bike map for Northstar. Extremely talented, extremely creative.
Website: http://www.treelineinteractive.com/

FLAIK
While not 100% marketing, Flaik impressed me because of what it can add to a product for a marketer to work with. Like EpicMix for ski schools, the Flaik system lets newbie skiers relive their day on the slopes with their instructor. Rather than just scan your pass at key points and guess where went in between, Flaik tracks every movement so you can see your exact tracks. Bill and Steve from Flaik also impressed me with their enthusiasm for the product, the sport, and the possibilities.
Website: http://www.flaik.com/

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.