Get Ready for Camp Mom

As we approach the unofficial beginning of the summer season, Moms are busy making those last minute plans for camps, but not just for their kids. More and more Moms are using the lazy days of summer to go on their own retreats and camp-like experiences in an effort to bond with their friends and sisters, connect with other Moms or perhaps to just let loose in the arts & crafts cabin.

There are numerous “camping” experiences popping up throughout the U.S.—ranging from long weekend overnights to camps for single Moms. While they each provide a different type of experience, they all offer brands new ways to connect with the ever-busier Mom consumer. We recently asked the experts at Camp GetAway, an organization that has been hosting weekend retreats for women for the past 13-years, to give us some insight into how brands may be able to get involved with the Mom camp trend.

Located in beautiful Southern California, Camp GetAway offers women a weekend of no makeup, no cooking, no chores…just guilt-free fun-filled camps for moms (and non-moms). “Our target campers are women between the ages of 25 to 75,” says Patti Londre of Camp GetAway. “About 75% of them are married and 60% are mothers.” The camp provides such kid-like experiences as arts and crafts, archery and swimming as well as more grown-up activities like spa services and yoga. “They attend in all manners of groups—sisters, Moms and (adult) daughters, sorority reunions, neighbors, Moms’ clubs, scrapbook friends. And plenty also attend solo.”

While Patti’s “day job” is that of a food product publicist, she is very familiar with what makes for a good sponsorship relationship—awareness and exposure for the product or company, plus publicity value on a much larger scale. Here are Patti’s suggestions for how businesses and individuals can get involved:

Provide Free Camp Registrations
Studies show that Moms will forgo spending money on themselves to purchase items for their family and friends. Patti suggests partnering with camps to provide a limited amount of “free registrations”—giving all Moms the opportunity to enjoy the experience. “We seek donations to provide free camp registrations for wives of Camp Pendleton marines (closest military base to Camp GetAway). We launched the program just last year and hosted several dozen of these wonderful women.” In addition to focusing on military wives, single Moms may also be an ideal target for camp registration scholarships.

Sampling
Mom Camps are all about the experience and provide numerous sampling opportunities for companies. Scrapbooking companies could host a scrapbooking workshop providing their own tools and products for Moms to use or perhaps a new flavor of potato chip could be added to the Saturday afternoon box-lunch picnic. “Our sponsor Mad Housewife Wines provides the wine for our Meet & Greets,” says Patti.

Give Goodies
In addition to creating a memorable experience for campers, camps also want to send their attendees home with great stuff. “Last year, The Chocolate Traveler provided their chocolate as a welcome gift to our campers,” says Patti. Other ideas include creating spa packages that can be given away after massages or even creating “first aid” kits that if (hopefully) aren’t used during the camping experience can be taken home to help mend smaller skinned knees. “We have had free products from scrapbooking suppliers, healthcare organizations, spa products, cosmetics…I think you get the picture,” adds Patti.

Just like all successful marketing initiatives—it’s about filling the need first. Look at what the camp needs in order to provide the perfect get away for its campers—and then see how your brand can help it achieve the goal. As with many Mom Camps, Camp GetAway is “a small business with a large heart and is always happy to discuss sponsorship with right kind of products.”