As summer approaches, 5pm on a Friday means something different. It signals an escape from the daily grind as millions head to the outdoors for a respite from their busy lives. "With a 64% increase in campers from 2014 to 2017" and "a million more American households heading to the woods every year since 2014" we expect #summer2018 to be the season of sharing stories around campfires with tin mug cocktails and gourmet camping meals.
Outside, But Not Too Far Out
Over the past 10 years, camping food has experienced a more shocking evolution than Britney Spears' transformation from 2007 to now. More people want to get outside but, as Martin Hogue, author of "925,000 Campsites: The Commodification of an American Experience" said, "We have a great desire to be in the outdoors, we also have a desire not to leave behind too much of the comforts that we have in out modern homes." So, just as people are splurging for fancy sleeping pads and camp tables, they are finding ways to enjoy the modern cuisine they love by the fire.
Outdoor Food Feed
If you made delicious camping nachos over a crackling fire below a canopy of quaking aspens and didn't 'gram it, did it even happen? Millennials are growing up and getting outside, accounting for 40% of all campers. Millennials are growing up and getting outside, accounting for 40% of all campers. Millennials and Gen Xers are increasingly curating photo-ready camping trips, "with 27% of Millennials and 25% of Gen X campers saying it is important to them to share their experience."
Get the Gear
A spike in camp kitchen gear can be observed across the category. At REI, "sales of cast-iron skillets are up 57 percent in the last year. Mini-skillets big enough to cook only one egg or a personal brownie are particularly popular." Publications like Outside are writing articles like "How to Mix Delicious Cocktails in the Backcountry," and retailers like Backcountry and REI are publishing their own camp kitchen essentials lists.
What This Means for Brands
Brands like REI, Poler Stuff and Cabela's are taking advantage of this refreshed love for camping by featuring camp-ready recipes and outdoor cooking giveaways on social. Similarly, when looking at targeting and storytelling for your brand, consider overlapping outdoor lover and food enthusiast affinities. This offers opportunities to position your product as the perfect accompaniment to an outdoor getaway, develop camping-friendly recipes and feature products in the wild. So, pitch your tents, stoke your fires and unpack the camp kitchen, because the next big food trend is headed outside, and your brand should too.