How Consumer-Centric Transformation Builds Brand Trust in a Climate-Constrained Ski Industry.
- fredrik ekstrom
- 23 jan.
- 7 min läsning
Uppdaterat: för 7 dagar sedan
Reflections from the Ski Industry Climate Summit in Bolzano
Last week, I was invited as a keynote speaker to the Ski Industry Climate Summit in Bolzano, Italy, to speak about how consumer-centric transformation can help ski brands build brand trust and long-term business strength in a climate-constrained reality.
The summit was initiated and arranged by Atomic, together with Protect Our Winters Europe. Not as a symbolic climate moment, but as a serious industry conversation.
And that matters. Because the ski industry is no longer dealing with abstract future risk.
Shrinking seasons, unstable snow conditions, rising operational costs, and increasingly conscious consumers are not scenarios. They are the operating context of today.
This article is reflections from the Ski Industry Climate Summit in Bolzano, why the summit was important, what I shared on stage, and what this means for brands navigating the next phase of winter sports and outdoor culture.
Why this summit matters for the industry
Most sustainability conversations still happen in silos. Brands operate within their own brand. Sustainability teams talk to sustainability teams. Marketing talks to marketing. And people/users/participants are often reduced to an abstract end consumer, sometimes with the underlying belief that “they don’t really care.”
What made the Ski Industry Climate Summit different was the ambition to connect climate action with brand strategy, consumer trust, and business reality.
How do we build a climate-resilient industry that people actually believe in and choose?
Bringing brands, suppliers, resorts, and industry organizations into the same room matters because climate transformation will fail if it is disconnected from how people think, feel, choose, and behave.
Climate action fails when it forgets the consumer
The core argument of my keynote, and what I believe in:
Climate transformation works better when it is built as an investment with the consumer, not just a cost for the planet or business.
Sustainability messaging doesn’t drive business if it’s introduced as a hangtag or POS messaging in-store without any brand groundwork done before introduction.
The presentation was built on data from Above The Clouds Future Series, including The NXT Outdoor Consumer and The NXT Sustainable Consumer reports.
Across markets and categories, one pattern is impossible to ignore:
Consumers care deeply about climate, sustainability, nature, and the future of the planet. But they are also confused, fatigued, and increasingly skeptical of brand communication.
We are living in a space shaped by:
· the sustainability paradox
· future fatigue
· and a growing gap between signal and substance
Brands that fail to understand this gap risk doing the right things, but in the wrong way.
From insight to action: the three building blocks
Understanding the consumer: beyond “green” and “non-green”
One of the biggest mistakes brands still make is treating sustainability as a binary issue.
Consumers are not sustainable or unsustainable. They are human. And they operate in what I often call the messy middle.
In the presentation, I outlined three dominant sustainability-related consumer archetypes that are particularly relevant for the ski and outdoor category:
The Dedicated Pioneers: Highly engaged, values-driven, and often ahead of brands. They don’t want slogans. They want leadership, direction, and proof.
The Proof Seekers: Emotionally invested but paralyzed by fear of making the wrong choice. They want results, proof points, clarity, and guidance, not judgement. This is where sustainability anxiety shows up most clearly.
The Eco-Floaters: Switching between intention and convenience. Not hypocrites, just realistic about everyday life and trade-offs.
Why archetypes matter is simple:
Focus investment
on strongest segments. Identify which mindset dominates in your audience.
Design step-ladders
that nudge people from intention to action.
Match messaging and proof-points to drivers in each archetype.
Don’t treat everyone as DEDICATED
but also, don’t act as if they don’t care. They do.
MEASURE shifts and growth between archetypes
to see whether you close the gap or adding noise.
The sustainability paradox: when caring turns into paralysis
One of the strongest patterns in the data is what I describe as the sustainability paradox.
Consumers want to do good. But they don’t feel their actions matter.
Many describe their efforts as disappearing into a black hole of action. No feedback. No visible impact. No reassurance that their choices make a difference.
In the data, this shows up as a clear emotional split:
On one side:
· sustainability as status
· knowledge as something impressive and attractive
· a desire to be seen as informed and conscious
On the other side:
· a feeling that individual actions don’t matter
· fear of being judged for doing the wrong thing
· and an urge to escape the pressure and “just enjoy life”
This tension creates frustration, disengagement, and eventually avoidance.
The important takeaway is this: More information is not the solution. Clarity is.
Brands that build trust are the ones that make impact understandable, relatable, and visible, rather than overwhelming people with complexity or moral pressure.
Does sustainability actually drive business?
Yes, but not the way most brands think
This is the question every leadership team asks, often quietly.
And this is where I used the 95/5 rule in the presentation.
Only a small share of consumers is actively in-market at any given moment. Roughly five percent. The remaining ninety-five percent are not buying right now, but they are forming mental availability, brand memory, and trust.
If sustainability only shows up as a point-of-sale argument, it is already too late.
Sustainability needs a clear brand-level hook that works in the ninety-five percent phase. It needs to shape how people feel about the brand, initiatives, and products before they are in buying mode. (This is not rocked science; it is traditional branding.)
The data shows clear links between:
· perceived credibility
· trust
· willingness to engage
· and long-term brand preference
But only when sustainability is treated as a brand strategy, not as POS messaging.
In the ski industry, this becomes very concrete.
You cannot sell winter experiences, alpine culture, and mountain freedom without standing up for the conditions that make them possible. This will affect brand trust.
Not loudly. Not perfectly. But consistently and credibly. If this is done right, then the consumer will be positive when facing a sustainability POS message in store.
What this means for ski and outdoor brands right now
Based on the insights shared in Bolzano, a few implications stand out clearly:
Sustainability/Climate is already a trust driver:
Whether brands work with it or not, consumers are already forming opinions.
Emotional clarity beats moral pressure:
People don’t need to be told to care.
They need help understanding what matters and why.
Different consumers need different roles:
Pioneers want value based leadership.
Proof Seekers want results and reassurance.
Eco-Floaters want simplicity and storytelling.
Brand comes before point of sale:
If sustainability only appears when you try to convert, you’ve missed its value.
Consistency builds belief:
Trust is not created through campaigns but through repetition over time.
A final reflection from Bolzano
What gave me optimism at the Ski Industry Climate Summit was not that the industry has all the answers. It clearly doesn’t. But there is a growing willingness to ask better questions. To move beyond surface-level sustainability. And to treat consumer understanding as a strategic asset, not just a marketing input. That shift is essential.
Because in a climate-constrained future, brands will not be judged by what they claim but by what they do and what people believe they will do.
What really stayed with me after Bolzano wasn’t something said on stage. It was a conversation during the networking dinner that evening.
Two senior leaders at our table (one from an industry organisation, one from retail) said: “But in the end, the consumer doesn’t really care. They just buy on price.”
And I went into full tsunami mode. Data. Charts. Numbers. A full attempt to win the argument rather than understand the belief behind it. I regret that. Because what I should have done was to slow the conversation down, and ask better questions. Listend more rather than talking.
The Q&A conversation i wished we would have had, is:
(And this might be a good assement test for many brands)
Ok, I hear your belief. Let's work with that.
What do you base this "Nobody Cares" on?
Sales numbers alone or actual consumer insight?
The products you’re referring to:
How are they priced compared to others in the store? (Lower, the same, or higher?)
If they’re higher priced, why?
Is the value obvious to the consumer, or is it justified only by “doing green”?
How familiar are the consumers with their climate/sustainability initiatives?
How has this been communicated before entering the store?
How much do consumers regard this type of initiative?
Is it brand aligned and communicated in a consumer-centric way?
How strong is their position in the consumer’s mind before they enter the store?
Do the consumers feel this initiative/product is meaningful?
Does the consumer feel this initiative/product is unique?
Do people trust the brand as a whole?
Or do they see sustainability as something the brand adds on top?
And finally:
How much brand work has actually been done before the consumer stands in front of the shelf? Because this is where the pre-selection usually happens.
For sustainability initiatives to convert into sales, they must be anchored in a strong brand hook to earn trust and choice at the point of purchase. When sustainability messaging is introduced only at the POS, it adds noise, creates confusion and losing out to drivers like price, fit, features, and other benefits.
Want to work with these insights?
If you are a brand, retailer or organization navigating these challenges and want to translate consumer insight into clear strategic direction, I work with:
· Insight & Strategy sprints
· Consumer archetype mapping
· Sustainability and Brand strategy
· Winning Game frameworks tailored to outdoor, sports and fashion brands
Get in touch if you want to turn climate pressure into brand clarity and long-term relevance. Hope you enjoyed the reading Fredrik
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