Vail Resorts is preparing to release the second version of EpicMix, a highly innovative social gaming app that enables visitors to track their activities and share them with their friends and family using radio frequency-enabled chips embedded in their access cards.
The app, slated to launch mid-December, is a cross between Nike+, which allows users to track their physical activities with chips embedded in Nike shoes and watches, and Gowalla, which rewards users for exploring new areas via its Trips feature. Like Gowalla, EpicMix rewards users with vital pins for various accomplishments, such as being on the first chairlift of the day or skiing a certain number of vertical feet over a designated period of time.
What’s different — and especially impressive — about EpicMix is that it doesn’t require a smartphone or GPS-enabled device to participate, nor does it require familiarity with geolocation apps and the concept of “checking in.” Everything visitors need is already in their access card.
Employees are stationed at the resorts’ various lifts (there are 89 across its five mountain resorts in Colorado and California) to scan the chips, which allows the application to automatically calculate the number of vertical feet skied, days on the mountain, routes taken and other feats. Guests can seamlessly and effortlessly keep track of their activities without having to fumble for their smartphones to check in at various locations — in other words, they can continue skiing and snowboarding the way they always have.
All of their data and achievements are stored in a web-based application that can be accessed via the desktop or one of Vail’s free mobile applications for iPhone [iTunes link] and Android devices. A third hybrid application is also available for other smartphones, including BlackBerrys.
From the applications, users can also keep track of where their Facebook friends are at each of the resorts, create leaderboards to compare accomplishments, send private messages to organize meetups and share their activity with their social networks on Facebook, Facebook Places and Twitter.
Vail Resorts has also created a version of the app designed especially for kids under age 14. It boasts a separate set of pins and other content, as well as the ability to connect to their parents’ accounts and additional privacy restrictions.
Nearly 100,000 — approximately 15% — of guests activated their EpicMix accounts last season, resulting in 270,000 cross-posts to Facebook and Twitter.
What’s New in Version 2.0
Version 2.0 is all about integrating photos into the EpicMix experience. Now, when guests agree to have their photos taken by one of the professional photographers stationed at Vail’s six mountain resorts, said photographers will scan guests’ access cards so that the photos will be delivered directly to the their EpicMix accounts. Photos of guests’ children — say, at ski school for the day — will also be uploaded directly to their accounts.
SEE ALSO: Skiing and Snowboarding: 6 Apps For Conquering the Slopes
From their EpicMix accounts, guests will then be able to share these photos on Facebook and Twitter for free, with the option to purchase high-resolution versions for printing and storage. They can also easily upload the free versions to photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, Snapfish and Shutterfly.
In addition, guests will be able to store their own photos taken with their mobile phones or any other camera device in the EpicMix app for a comprehensive overview of their vacation experience.
Undoubtedly the new app will improve the vacation experience of many a resort guest. The days of heading to the photo center and searching through hundreds of photos of strangers and their kids is over — at least at Vail. But it also promises to prove a powerful marketing tool for Vail.
CEO Rob Katz believes that “the anticipation of a vacation and the memory of a vacation are more important than the vacation itself,” of which photos are a critical part. Making photos easily available for guests to re-experience should, in theory, improve their return visit rate. Making those photos, which will feature a Vail Resorts logo in the bottom right corner, shareable on Facebook and Twitter will function as word-of-mouth marketing.
“When thinking about social media, there are three things companies are focused on: sending messages to their consumers, responding to issues and questions and — and here is the holy grail of social media — getting people to be advocates for your brand by sharing with their friends,” says Katz. “It’s hard to create this in an authentic way. Sharing your photos and experiences is about authentic as you can get.”
Katz also believes that photos will bolster the percentage of visitors who activate EpicMix. “If a parent hears that we took a photo of their kid in ski school, the parent is going to go look at that photo,” he says.
EpicMix was originally designed in conjunction with ad agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. Vail worked with Sapient on the creative design for version 2.0 and handled the development process internally.
More About: epicmix, skiing, sports, vail resortsFor more Mobile coverage:Follow Mashable Mobile on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Mobile channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:18:18 +0000 at http://mashable.com/2011/08/31/vail-epicmix-2-0/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/31/vail-epicmix-2-0/#comments
The app, slated to launch mid-December, is a cross between Nike+, which allows users to track their physical activities with chips embedded in Nike shoes and watches, and Gowalla, which rewards users for exploring new areas via its Trips feature. Like Gowalla, EpicMix rewards users with vital pins for various accomplishments, such as being on the first chairlift of the day or skiing a certain number of vertical feet over a designated period of time.
What’s different — and especially impressive — about EpicMix is that it doesn’t require a smartphone or GPS-enabled device to participate, nor does it require familiarity with geolocation apps and the concept of “checking in.” Everything visitors need is already in their access card.
Employees are stationed at the resorts’ various lifts (there are 89 across its five mountain resorts in Colorado and California) to scan the chips, which allows the application to automatically calculate the number of vertical feet skied, days on the mountain, routes taken and other feats. Guests can seamlessly and effortlessly keep track of their activities without having to fumble for their smartphones to check in at various locations — in other words, they can continue skiing and snowboarding the way they always have.
All of their data and achievements are stored in a web-based application that can be accessed via the desktop or one of Vail’s free mobile applications for iPhone [iTunes link] and Android devices. A third hybrid application is also available for other smartphones, including BlackBerrys.
From the applications, users can also keep track of where their Facebook friends are at each of the resorts, create leaderboards to compare accomplishments, send private messages to organize meetups and share their activity with their social networks on Facebook, Facebook Places and Twitter.
Vail Resorts has also created a version of the app designed especially for kids under age 14. It boasts a separate set of pins and other content, as well as the ability to connect to their parents’ accounts and additional privacy restrictions.
Nearly 100,000 — approximately 15% — of guests activated their EpicMix accounts last season, resulting in 270,000 cross-posts to Facebook and Twitter.
What’s New in Version 2.0
Version 2.0 is all about integrating photos into the EpicMix experience. Now, when guests agree to have their photos taken by one of the professional photographers stationed at Vail’s six mountain resorts, said photographers will scan guests’ access cards so that the photos will be delivered directly to the their EpicMix accounts. Photos of guests’ children — say, at ski school for the day — will also be uploaded directly to their accounts.
SEE ALSO: Skiing and Snowboarding: 6 Apps For Conquering the Slopes
From their EpicMix accounts, guests will then be able to share these photos on Facebook and Twitter for free, with the option to purchase high-resolution versions for printing and storage. They can also easily upload the free versions to photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, Snapfish and Shutterfly.
In addition, guests will be able to store their own photos taken with their mobile phones or any other camera device in the EpicMix app for a comprehensive overview of their vacation experience.
Undoubtedly the new app will improve the vacation experience of many a resort guest. The days of heading to the photo center and searching through hundreds of photos of strangers and their kids is over — at least at Vail. But it also promises to prove a powerful marketing tool for Vail.
CEO Rob Katz believes that “the anticipation of a vacation and the memory of a vacation are more important than the vacation itself,” of which photos are a critical part. Making photos easily available for guests to re-experience should, in theory, improve their return visit rate. Making those photos, which will feature a Vail Resorts logo in the bottom right corner, shareable on Facebook and Twitter will function as word-of-mouth marketing.
“When thinking about social media, there are three things companies are focused on: sending messages to their consumers, responding to issues and questions and — and here is the holy grail of social media — getting people to be advocates for your brand by sharing with their friends,” says Katz. “It’s hard to create this in an authentic way. Sharing your photos and experiences is about authentic as you can get.”
Katz also believes that photos will bolster the percentage of visitors who activate EpicMix. “If a parent hears that we took a photo of their kid in ski school, the parent is going to go look at that photo,” he says.
EpicMix was originally designed in conjunction with ad agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. Vail worked with Sapient on the creative design for version 2.0 and handled the development process internally.
More About: epicmix, skiing, sports, vail resortsFor more Mobile coverage:Follow Mashable Mobile on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Mobile channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:18:18 +0000 at http://mashable.com/2011/08/31/vail-epicmix-2-0/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/31/vail-epicmix-2-0/#comments