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Like pickleball before it, skiing is the latest sport to capture marketers’ attention. With brands hosting influencer trips at picturesque ski chalets and partaking in multi-year resort partnerships across Aspen and Jackson Hole, ski destinations have emerged as a new experiential marketing frontier. They offer brands an opportunity to showcase product performance in cold temperatures and harsh conditions, while also generating visually compelling content and reaching consumers in aspirational environments.
This week, beauty influencers — Kensington Tillo (435,000 Instagram followers; 1.7 million TikTok followers), Golloria George (1.1 million Instagram followers; 3.3 million TikTok followers) and Toni Bravo (178,000 Instagram followers; 899,000 TikTok followers), among others, landed in Big Sky, Montana to celebrate the launch of Rhode’s new masks: Caffeine Reset, described by the brand as a “sculpting face mask,” and Peptide Lip Boost, a plumping, but not stinging, lip mask.
With some of today’s biggest beauty influencers on board, not to mention Rhode’s inherent cool factor, the trip’s earned media value will surely be astronomical, making the products hotly anticipated by the time they launch on February 9. The brand also pre-seeded lab samples to a selection of creators, who have been teasing the launches on social media.
Officially dubbed the Rhode Snow Club, the activation runs from February 4-8. Consumers skiing alongside Rhode’s guests will have the chance to gain early access to the new launches, receive special Rhode stickers and enjoy “toasted toddies and sweet treats,” according to the brand’s Instagram. Rhode declined to comment for this story.
Hailey Bieber’s brand may be the latest, but it’s not the first to take marketing to snowy new heights by setting up shop on the slopes.
Sunscreen-focused Supergoop, for example, is in its ninth year of ski-related activations. Since 2017, the brand has served as the official sun-care sponsor of Aspen Snowmass. This year, it expanded its commitment to the sport, entering a new four-year partnership with Alterra Mountain Company to become the official sunscreen sponsor across all 13 Alterra resorts.
“It’s really important to be intentional about where and how we engage with our consumers,” said Melis del Rey, Supergoop’s CEO. “We really look for environments where either sun exposure is unavoidable — and product efficacy can, therefore, be proven and not just talked about — or we’re not just another brand on the screen.”
Skiing, in particular, creates conditions that call for high-performance skin and sun care. “On the slopes, higher altitudes and snow reflection can increase UV exposure, which can lead to sun damage and dehydration, and accelerate aging,” Dr. Marnie Nussbaum, board-certified dermatologist and founder of Dr. Marnie skin care, told Glossy.
Kiehl’s is now in its third year of working with Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. In addition, like Supergoop, it has expanded its winter sports presence through a new multi-resort partnership with Alterra Mountain Company — Supergoop is the official SPF partner, and Kiehl’s is the official skin care partner. It has also partnered with IKON Pass, which provides access to multiple mountains.
“Skiing has a growing community, right in the bull’s eye of our target consumer,” said John Reed, the brand’s general manager, who referenced a stat from a Snowsports Industries America study stating that roughly 30 million Americans ski. “This is one of the most aspirational activities that Gen Z and millennials want to get into. There’s obviously the luxury and the hospitality and the aesthetic element, but then there’s also the element of pushing your boundaries and pushing your athletic abilities,” he said.
For Supergoop, ski resort activations also help challenge the notion that sunscreen is only relevant at the beach. “We want to be relevant [all] year,” Del Rey said.
Both Supergoop and Kiehl’s have used their partnerships to activate with creators and consumers alike.
“If you go to Jackson Hole, you can buy Kiehl’s all over the mountain, including the ski shop,” Reed said. “There’s Kiehl’s advertising on the windows of the chalet and on the chairlifts.”
The brand has staged an annual takeover at the Jackson Hole resort, where its brand representatives provide skin consultations and product education for visiting consumers and host activities like Kiehl’s-themed races. This year, that effort will expand to four Alterra resort locations, each with its own creator trip. Across locations, the brand expects to seed over 100,000 samples to resort guests this year.
For Reed, these activations build on Kiehl’s long-standing practice of “adventure-testing” its products. The most notable moment came in 1988, when the brand sponsored an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first skin-care brand to bring products to the top. Kiehl’s continues to leverage “snow and the mountains” in its imagery, Reed said, noting that “it puts the idea in the consumer’s mind that if the product can stand up to extreme conditions like snow and wind and dryness, then it’s going to be great for every day.”
For its part, Neutrogena hosted its first ski activations this year, organizing two creator trips to Heavenly Ski Resort in Tahoe. During the first weekend, the brand hosted 20 creators with a combined reach of 97.5 million, including Tessa Brooks (21.9 million Instagram followers; 5.6 million TikTok followers), Davis Burleson (81,000 Instagram followers; 585,000 TikTok followers) and Jess Val Ortiz (1.1 million Instagram followers; 10.8 million TikTok followers). According to brand representatives, Neutrogena generated more than 600 pieces of content and 3 million views within the first 48 hours. The brand also sampled its Hydro Boost Water Gel moisturizer and Makeup Remover Wipes to 2,000 consumers.
The trip gave guests the opportunity to stress-test winter skin across Neutrogena’s skin and sun categories and served as a soft launch for the brand’s new Ultra Sheer Invisible Gel Face Sunscreen SPF 40.
“What we want to do is make it really accessible to use our products,” said Kevin Shapiro, the brand’s head of U.S. brand growth across sun and skin care. “Part of that accessibility is offering a curated set of products. So, if you have winter skin, here are four things you can be doing to stay hydrated and also have protection from the sun, especially if you’re out on the slopes or active in winter, as many people are.” He noted that creators play a key role in communicating that education to consumers.
Other brands that have invested in alpine activations this season include Naturium, which this week is hosting The Naturium Alpine Club in Whistler, bringing together creators and beauty editors to celebrate the launch of its new Barrier Bounce Mist. And, in January, body-care brand Salt & Stone erected a 12-foot-tall sculpture of its deodorant at Snowmass Resort in Aspen, offering skiers discount codes, play-to-win scratch-off tickets and branded cocktails.
Week in review
Beauty’s years-long lip obsession shows no signs of slowing down. This week alone:
Cocokind introduced a lip balm collaboration with Olipop, inclusive of three flavors: Strawberry Vanilla (a bright pink), Cherry Cola (a cherry red) and Cream Soda (a clear shimmer). In the past, Olipop competitor Poppi has partnered with Innbeauty Project and Tower 28, while Liquid Death and E.l.f. launched a “Lip Embalm” collection just weeks ago — proving the food and beverage collab remains buzzy in beauty.
With the continued success of its Lip Butter Balm, it’s no surprise Summer Fridays is delving deeper into the lip category. On February 2, it launched a Flushed Lip Stain — a marker-esque product that follows similar launches from Huda Beauty and R.E.M. Beauty — and a Softline Lip Liner.
Another brand known for its popular lip SKUs, Laneige teamed with Katseye to promote its latest debut — the JuicePop Box Lip Oil Stain — which claims to tint lips for 12 hours.
And Merit tapped “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Whitney Leavitt and actor Karen Pittman to promote the launch of its Lip Blush, which it first introduced as a limited-edition product in a 2023 holiday set. Now, it returns in eight shades as part of the brand’s permanent collection, with the tagline “Lipstick you can live in.” The brand describes the product as a “lightweight, balm-like modern matte lip.”
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