On January 9, Salomon athletes Kalen Thorien and Stan Rey will embark on a European ski adventure beginning at Salomon’s Annecy Design Center in the French Alps. Where they go from there with the Salomon TV film crew will be decided by Salomon’s online community of followers. The first “Salomon TV Unscripted” adventure will last 10 days and the result will be a Salomon TV episode that airs in the fall/winter 2018 season.
Since launching Salomon TV more than a decade ago as Salomon Freeski TV, the platform has produced numerous episodes and short films that have won awards at film festivals and gathered a legion of loyal followers. In January the brand will, for the first time, let its followers dictate the itinerary of an episode it is filming for next winter.
“I think it will be incredibly unpredictable because we will be able to have this authentic adventure that’s been curated by our followers,” Thorien said. “It’s completely on a whim, so I’m excited to see what our followers want us to do. It’s really different for us because usually things are scripted and we have a schedule. With this we could go hiking, running or even cross-country skiing.”
Using Instagram polls and various Facebook features, Salomon fans can cast their votes on where Thorien and Rey go skiing, what they have for dinner and more. In short, Salomon is asking its followers to be its “social compass” as the brand creates its next Salomon TV episode.
The goals of the trip are to evolve the way Salomon interacts with fans, allow the brand’s loyal followers to play a role in its content and to learn what they’d like to see and experience more of.
“As a brand, we’re always looking for new ways to evolve and deliver content that inspires people to get outside, whether that’s skiing, running or hiking,” says Simon Brizard, Salomon’s Digital Community Lead, who will be pulling the strings on the social media element of the trip. “That often means experimenting with new features that become available in the digital marketing world. In this case, we’ll be combining our huge social media presence and loyal followers with a successful program like Salomon TV. We’re looking forward to seeing where the fans send the athletes and crew to make this episode.”
Fans can follow the entire adventure on @SalomonFreeski's Instagram and Facebook pages and are encouraged to cast their votes and make their opinions heard.
https://www.facebook.com/SalomonFreeski/
https://www.instagram.com/SalomonFreeski
