
Save Me, the ski pass
Oetztal Tourism, Soelden
Issue 40 | September 2016
Agency
serviceplan Munich
Creative Team
Creative Directors Lorenz Langgartner Franz Röppischer Sandra Loibl Art Directors Sandra Willibald Alexander Budau Copywriters Vladislaus Tyszkiewicz Lucas Mueller
Other Credits
Jan Paepke Hendrick Sommerfeld
Date
December 2015
Background
Off-piste skiing and snowboarding are more popular than ever. But also dangerous.
Every year more than 5,000 people worldwide are buried by avalanches.
During the search for the victims every second counts. Unfortunately, most avalanche victims don't wear any emergency equipment that might speed up their location by rescue services.
Idea
The solution to this problem was the first ski pass with a built-in positioning chip for the resort of Sölden.
As long as they wear it, every skier in Sölden is automatically locatable. After an avalanche, the authorities send out a radio signal. The reflector in the pass returns it, allowing mountain rescue teams to pinpoint the skier's exact location.
The 'Save Me' ski pass uses a passive reflector, meaning it is always on and doesn't need batteries.
Results
Since the implementation of Save Me in December 2015, Sölden had the lowest avalanche-related fatalities rate in ten years.
After good feedback, Save Me will be continued in 2016/17. At least four other resorts are looking at adopting the idea.
Our Thoughts
It's not difficult to see why the Save Me pass is catching on. It's cheap to produce and, because it is radioresponsive, better at indicating location than a mobile phone.
For the thousands of casual skiers and snowboarders who take to the piste every year, most probably don't think too much about the possibility of an avalanche, or do much to protect themselves against the possibility.
But the Save Me pass requires no effort on their part, and thus circumvents skier inertia.
And imagine you had a choice between a resort that looked to help skiers in the event of an avalanche, and one that didn't – we know which we'd pick.