Emerging Trends 52 | SunMatrix Ramble

EpicMix: Social snowboarding at Vail Resorts

In 2010 I had covered how Nokia was collaborating with Burton Snowboards, to create a new type of connected snowboarding experience.

Since then, Vail Resorts in the USA has created an RFID (radio-frequency identification) based platform that can be accessed from any device. Their app is called EpicMix and, together with the slopes’ RFID lift ticket system, it captures users’ skiing and boarding activity and automatically uploads it to an EpicMix dashboard.

This season (2011/12) they have redesigned the app, created more badges (in the spirit of Foursquare), and integrated the resort photographers’ photos so they appear seamlessly in the user’s EpicMix account.

RFID lift tickets as the invisible engine

The clever part is that the tracking does not ask you to “do” much on the hill. Your lift access becomes the passive signal. The system can log where you have been and how your day is stacking up, then present it back as a clean timeline and a set of stats in your account. Because lift scans happen anyway, the experience stays effortless, which makes adoption and repeat use much more likely.

In US destination ski resorts, RFID-linked tracking and social sharing turn a day on the mountain into a measurable, shareable story.

The real question is whether passive tracking and automatic memories can turn a single resort day into a story people want to relive and share.

Badges and photos that keep the story moving

Badges give the platform an easy repeat loop: one more run, one more milestone, one more pin to unlock. The photo integration adds something even more powerful. It gives you proof you were there, in moments you do not usually capture yourself, and it drops those images into the same place you already check your day.

Why this changes the experience of a resort day

This is not only a ski tracker. It is a social layer that makes the day easier to remember, easier to compare, and easier to share. It also nudges behavior in a subtle way: people chase an extra badge, or detour to a spot where they know the photographers are active, because the system makes those micro-goals feel rewarding. Done well, it is one of the strongest retention loops a resort can build.

Extractable takeaway: If a “real life” platform can use a mandatory touchpoint as a passive signal and then return a satisfying story fast, it earns repeat engagement without asking users to work for it.

Design moves from EpicMix for connected resort days

Use an existing touchpoint as the sensor. Lift access already happens. The system just listens.
Return value quickly. Stats and milestones should feel immediate, not like a weekly report.
Make memories part of the product. Photos are not decoration. They are retention.
Design sharing as a byproduct. If the dashboard is satisfying, sharing becomes optional, not forced.

A few fast answers before you act

What is EpicMix?

EpicMix is an RFID-enabled tracking and sharing platform from Vail Resorts that captures ski and snowboard activity via lift tickets and presents it in a personal dashboard across devices.

How does the RFID lift ticket system help track a ski day?

RFID in lift tickets and passes can register lift usage as you ride, which lets the platform build a record of your day without requiring manual check-ins.

What is new in the 2011/12 season update?

The 2011/12 version is positioned as a redesign that expands badges and brings resort photographers’ images directly into a user’s EpicMix account.

Why do badges matter in a resort app?

Badges create small goals that make people check the app again, compare with friends, and feel progress beyond “I skied today”.

What makes photographer integration such a strong feature?

It adds high-quality memories with minimal effort. The experience feels richer when photos appear automatically in the same place you track your day.

Deutsche Telekom: Hologram Christmas Surprise

Deutsche Telekom stages a multi-city, multi-media Christmas surprise where people across five countries believe they are seeing Mariah Carey perform live, right in their city square.

The event is described as unfolding simultaneously in Germany, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Poland. After roughly 10 minutes, the hologram “breaks” into the sky to reveal the surprise, then reforms to lead the connected crowds through “Silent Night”, finishing with “All I Want for Christmas Is You”.

How the spectacle is engineered

Mechanically, each city is linked live to the others, enabling interaction across locations while the performance plays out on large-scale public screens. Attendees are also given a QR code that takes them to a smartphone experience featuring a candle flame, turning the crowd into a coordinated visual.

In European telecom brand marketing, making the network feel like a shared human experience is a reliable way to give an invisible service a visible emotional payoff.

Why it lands as more than “a stunt”

This works because the surprise is collective, not individual. People do not just watch content. They witness their city being connected to other cities in real time, and that connection is the product truth Deutsche Telekom wants remembered. Because the cities are live-linked, the audience experiences “connection” as something happening to them, which makes the brand promise feel credible. The real question is whether your experience lets people feel the benefit in the moment, not just understand it in hindsight. If your brand sells connectivity, a shared public ritual beats a standalone content drop.

Extractable takeaway: When the benefit is intangible, engineer a shared moment that makes the benefit felt, then let the crowd carry the story.

What the numbers are really doing

The piece is framed with scale metrics. Attendance is described as 12,000 people in total, with an additional 27,000 watching via a live internet stream on lifeisforsharing.tv. Treated as reported figures, the strategic point is clear: the “in person” crowd creates authenticity, and the stream extends reach without losing the feeling of simultaneity.

Stealable patterns for cross-market surprise

Build one shared ritual. A carol everyone recognises becomes the simplest multi-language participation layer.
Make the reveal part of the story arc. Belief, disruption, then a coordinated finale gives the audience a plot to retell.
Link physical and mobile. A QR-driven phone element can turn a crowd into a synchronised visual without complicated instruction.
Design for “togetherness at distance”. The emotional payoff comes from knowing other cities are experiencing the same moment at the same time.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the “Hologram Christmas Surprise” in one line?

A simultaneous, five-country public concert that uses a Mariah Carey hologram and live city-to-city links to create a shared Christmas moment at scale.

What is the core mechanism that makes it feel real?

Live-linked public screens across cities, plus on-stage interaction cues and crowd participation elements that play out in real time.

Why add the QR code candle experience?

It gives the crowd a simple coordinated action, visually reinforcing the “connected” theme and making the audience part of the show.

How do you keep it from feeling like a pure tech demo?

Lead with a shared ritual and a simple participation layer so the emotion reads first, and the technology disappears into the experience.

What is the most transferable lesson?

If your brand benefit is intangible, engineer a shared public moment that makes the benefit visible, then let people do the storytelling for you.

eBay: Give-A-Toy Store

One of the things that all people do during the holidays, besides real shopping, is window shopping. Storefront window displays therefore have a stronger significance during the holiday season. Keeping that in mind, eBay has developed a way to make this experience move from passive to interactive and engaging.

Give-A-Toy Store is a 3D Christmas window installation with QR code tagged toys, built to evoke the passer-by’s giving side. Scanning the QR codes inside the eBay app allows passers-by to donate that toy on the spot, with the window lighting up and rewarding them for the donation.

The window installation is currently available at Toys for Tots in New York (at 35th and Broadway) and San Francisco (at 117 Post St).

Additionally customers can also customize their own toys on eBay’s Facebook page. For each toy created, eBay will donate $1 (up to $50,000).

From window shopping to “giving on the sidewalk”

This is a simple flip. The window is no longer just display media. It becomes a donation interface. You look, you scan, you give. Then you get instant feedback in the physical world.

How the mechanism does the heavy lifting

The mechanic is intentionally friction-light. Toys are visually presented as scannable choices. The QR tag is the call-to-action. The eBay app is the checkout. The window lighting up is the reward loop, confirming that something happened and making the act feel social even if you are alone.

In high-traffic retail corridors, a good interactive storefront turns waiting and wandering into measurable intent, without asking people to step inside.

Why it lands in a holiday crowd

It works because it respects the window-shopping mindset. People are already browsing. They are already comparing. This just adds a small, clear next step that feels aligned with the season. The visual “thank you” in the window also matters. It makes the donation feel immediate and real, not abstract and back-end.

Extractable takeaway: If you can make the environment visibly react to a mobile action, you create trust and momentum. The moment becomes self-explanatory, and bystanders learn the behavior just by watching.

What the brand is really building

The real question is whether a holiday storefront can turn passing attention into a mobile action that feels immediate enough to complete on the sidewalk.

This is not only about donations. It is a product demo for mobile commerce in disguise. It shows that scanning can be a legitimate buying action, that the phone can complete a transaction in seconds, and that the brand can connect physical retail ritual with digital conversion.

What this teaches about interactive storefronts

Make the first action obvious. If scanning is the behavior, the codes must look like the product tag.
Design a physical confirmation. Light, motion, or animation reduces doubt and makes the act feel rewarding.
Keep the choice set tight. Fewer, clearer options beat a cluttered scene when people are walking past.
Match the moment. Holiday giving is a natural fit for “instant donate” mechanics.
Make it watchable. When others can see the window respond, you get free teaching and free social proof.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core idea behind Give-A-Toy Store?

Turn a holiday window into a scannable donation experience, so giving happens in the same moment as browsing.

Why does the window lighting up matter?

It provides immediate confirmation and reward. That reduces hesitation, makes the interaction feel real, and invites others nearby to notice and copy the behavior.

What makes this different from a normal QR campaign poster?

The display is the product experience. The scene feels like a store window first, and the QR code is integrated as a natural “price tag” action rather than a separate ad instruction.

What is the biggest execution risk?

Friction. If scanning is unreliable, the app flow is slow, or the codes are hard to spot at walking distance, people will not complete the action.

How would you adapt this if you do not have an app?

Keep the structure. Use a fast mobile entry point, and pair it with a visible physical confirmation so people know their action worked.