The starting point
SalzburgerLand Tourismus wanted the Winter Chill-Out campaign to cover nine destinations in a single winter: Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Eben, Filzmoos, Gastein, Hohe Tauern, Obertauern, Radstadt, Saalbach and Wagrain-Kleinarl. Each destination got its own reel in vertical and horizontal formats plus a photo set: more than 200 edited photos in total.
The entire production sat with us: content strategy, casting, project management, the shoots and post-production. The window ran from February to mid-March: roughly six weeks. Nine shoot days had to happen inside that window, each with backup days behind it.
What we shot was largely set by the local tourism boards: some wanted pure ski content, others a mix of skiing and spa. Our job was to turn each of those wishes into the strongest possible material, while making everything still read as one campaign.
Weather windows instead of shoot schedules
The biggest difference between a summer and a winter campaign isn't the cold: it's the planning logic. A fixed shoot schedule across nine destinations does not survive an Alpine winter. So we didn't plan dates; we planned weather windows, with backup days behind every shoot day and go/no-go calls made at short range, often only the day before.
That sounds flexible, but above all it is work: every postponement drags models, props, accommodation and the local board coordination along with it. For six weeks that meant daily communication with the client: finding weather slots, rebooking, reorganizing. This pre-production was the real core of the campaign, not the shooting.
The plan did break once: the head of one local board wanted to keep the original date despite a bad forecast. We postponed. That created real tension. The footage from the good-weather window won him over in the end, though he never quite forgave the reschedule. The lesson: someone has to own the weather call and stand by it. That's our job, not the client's.
„A fixed shoot schedule across nine destinations does not survive an Alpine winter. We plan weather windows, not dates.“
One full day per destination
Nine destinations, nine shoot days: every region got one full day, not half of one. Travel, lift logistics, setup and the short winter light fill a day completely; two destinations in one winter day is an illusion.
The most important time of day is the first gondola. We shoot ski action exclusively in the morning: freshly groomed piste, nobody in frame, hard side light. From about half past nine the slope is carved up and crowded. After that the day belongs to terrace scenes, details and landscape, none of which care about the state of the piste. That running order is not a style choice; it is the reason one shoot day per destination is enough.
Each region got its own USP treatment: its own hooks, its own motifs, its own photo priorities, aligned with the local board, but always inside the shared Winter Chill-Out frame. That keeps the campaign recognizable as a whole without the destinations feeling interchangeable.
The per-day setup was deliberately small: one content creator covering photo and video, one to three models, and support from SalzburgerLand Tourismus or the local board. In winter, a small team is not a budget compromise: it is weather insurance. It can reschedule at short notice, get up the mountain fast and back down faster.
„Ski shots always happen in the morning. After half past nine the piste is carved up, and you can see it in every single shot.“
Casting: skiing first, camera second
We cast all talent ourselves in advance. The most important criterion was not camera experience but skiing ability: for the models as much as for the creator. Skiing while filming, without endangering yourself or anyone else, is physically demanding and does not forgive overconfidence.
„When in doubt, take the better skier over the better camera operator. Post-production can rescue a shaky shot, it cannot rescue a torn ACL.“
Logistics, budget and mileage
The unglamorous truth about the cost structure: the two biggest cost drivers of the campaign were talent and mileage. Nine destinations mean many hours in the car, and for the more remote valleys, overnight stays for talent and crew that had to be weighed against the budget continuously. That balance was permanent work, not a one-off plan.
On the equipment side, winter was the smaller problem: Sony FX3 and A7IV, DJI Mavic 3 Pro and a gimbal, plus a generous supply of batteries: cold eats capacity, so spares and warm pockets are part of the base kit. Skimp here and you pay with the weather window.
What genuinely lightened the load: permits, slope access and lift arrangements were handled entirely by the local boards. That is the advantage of running a campaign with the tourism board as a partner, and a point every briefing should settle up front.
Approvals at sprint pace
Each video went through one or two revision loops; the calendar allowed no more, because much of the material was published within days of the shoot. What sounds like a risk was in practice an advantage: tight deadlines force everyone to decide on what matters instead of debating details.
The results
Eight of the nine reels reached between 96,000 and 130,000 views on Instagram; one stayed at 21,000. Over 860,000 views in total. The individual numbers: 98,000, 101,000, 130,000, 99,000, 104,000, 116,000, 21,000, 97,000 and 96,000.
The outlier belongs in the story: same process, same quality, a fraction of the reach. Anyone who guarantees every single number on a social campaign is selling something other than experience. What can be planned is the consistency of the other eight.
What we would do differently next time
The most honest takeaway of the campaign: we underestimated the pre-production, and underpriced it. Daily weather calls, rebookings and coordinating nine boards were far more work than budgeted. The consequence was structural: since this campaign, productions of this size at Skyline get dedicated project management.
For clients, the mirror image applies: if an agency lists project management as a side item on a multi-destination production, either the calculation is wrong, or it takes its revenge in mid-February.