Issue #197 | June 25, 2009 | by Andy Kowl

When you think of RFID, it would be only natural if the images that first came to mind were of downhill skiing; NFL football; drinking at a Vegas casino; running a marathon; riding a rollercoaster; a Tiki bar on the beach – or Dolly Parton.

No?

If your answer was that RFID makes you think of warehouses and factories, you have failed this week's Rorschach test. ("Dr. Freud will see you.")

That list of recreational activities, and a busty blonde, are all just a taste of the stories I have covered about the use of RFID technology for sports, leisure activities and a long array of non-industrial uses.

First let me explain to fellow fans of Dolly's, lest you think I dis this talented singer/songwriter and savvy businesswoman. Ms. Parton's career shows she has never been mired in convention. In 2005, one of her businesses was an early RFID adopter. Dollywood Splash Country, in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., was one of the first resorts to use RFID wrist bracelets and a kiosk system to keep children from getting lost.

The first use of RFID for skiers I covered was a creative implementation begun in November 2004 by Steamboat Ski, the resort in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Using similar bracelets and kiosks, groups of skiers were able to coordinate with each other. If the kids were on the bunny slope, Dad was sipping hot toddies, and Mom blazed down the black diamond slope, they were still able to rendezvous for lunch or find each other when it was time to go home.

RFID as marketing advantage
Vail Resorts, another Colorado operator, started to look at RFID as a means of "transforming the customer experience" since the 2006-07 season. They have now taken RFID's value to the next level by using it as a marketing tool. Unlike most tags, which add value to hard assets, Vail's CIO Robert Unwiler explained, "We sell an experience. You leave our resorts with memories." (But where do you attach the tag?!)

So Vail knows the most important result of any decision they make is what Unwiler calls ROE, Return on Experience. They see that since RFID "reduces the hassle factor" – for example, you no longer have to unzip your jacket and produce your ski pass – that is the first mark in its favor. Attendants use handhelds to scan the skiers as they enter the resort area or a particular lift line. Lines move more quickly.

During the 07/08 season Vail tried their new system with a thousand ski patrollers and school instructors, using passive UHF tags within ski passes or ID. They began with three goals and met them all:

1. Improve the customer experience
2. Detect fraudulent ski passes
3. Improve the mountain resort company's ability to segment customer behavior

Our colleagues at Zebra, who are responsible for most of the RFID technology Vail uses, introduced me to Robert Unwiler. He pointed out that many people do not realize Vail has a handful of resorts in addition to the one which they are named for on Vail Mountain itself, called the largest ski resorts in the United States on their website, with 1.6 million skiers and snowboarders annually. Currently they have a dozen RFID readers spread across five resorts.

Each reader has multiple antennas, most of which are overhead on the slopes. They do not have one on all slopes, nor is that needed. They have enough to get a sense of which of those customer behavior segments skiers fall into, categories like extreme skier or park rat. By marketing to each visitor with increasing sophistication, based on the activities that appeal most to that customer, Vail is seeing successful results.

They also use the ski passes for contactless payments in the cafeterias, with also reduces the hassle factor of carrying your wallet. As NFL stadiums with similar payment systems have found, a wave of your pass or card increases the number of purchases guests make compared to a swipe of your credit card's magnetic stripe.

At this years Journal Live event, Vail won the award for Best Use of RFID as a Service. It will be interesting to follow along as more and more marketers join their asset-tracking compatriots in finding new value to add with RFID.