GILLESPIE

Amy Gillespie

Title: owner, The Campfire Experience Address: 629 N. High St. About: The Campfire Experience is a luxury adventuring brand that specializes in creating outdoorsy events and experiences for brands, festivals and weddings.

Number of employees (not including owner): 3

2017 revenue:

Would not disclose Website: thecampfireexperience.com

country. In my plan, this would contribute to the majority of the business. Secondarily, our "glamping villages" would be an enjoyable portion of the business allowing us to have a presence at music festivals in the Midwest. However, once we launched, the "glamping village" offer blew up. Shortly after that, brands started reaching out and asking us to pitch, design, create and execute unique and custom outdoors-inspired experiences or marketing activations for them. We, of course, said yes and found that not only is that work creative and enjoyable but that my confluence of skills are perfectly suited to it. We now have the privilege of working with major brands like Men’s Journal, Abercombie & Fitch and Goose Island.

Q: What has been one of your biggest hurdles and how did you overcome it?

A: As a startup, often funds are limited. So, while I was used to managing a multimillion- dollar advertising budget, now I would need to be very strategic and cautious with how we managed cash flow and invested in the company. That has been a tough challenge, but

constraints breed creativity. We embraced social platforms, like Instagram, which became an incredible driver of awareness. We collaborated with wonderful communities like Creative Babes and local businesses like Rockmill Brewery. And we created our own custom events, like the Campfire Sessions, which now are becoming a well- known music series in Columbus but began as a way to fund our marketing.

Q: You like data. What interesting facts have you found that reinforce your business plan?

A: Yes, I love data! Our target market — millennials — are entering their prime earning years. With $ 1.3 trillion in annual consumer spending, they are increasingly placing value on experiences over material things. Three out of four millennials would prefer to spend their money on experiences, and 72 percent would like to increase their spending on experiences. And brands have taken notice. Branding Magazine claims the “future of advertising is all about experiential marketing.” Digital advertising is either going unnoticed or is being met with disdain or skepticism by consumers, who increasingly value authenticity and are becoming more distrustful of what they see online. The majority of marketers plan to spend more of their marketing dollars on live experiences or events in the coming year. Brand activation budgets continue to increase and by 2020 are expected to reach $ 740 billion, with nearly half of that being outsourced.

Q: What are your future plans for the Campfire Experience?

A: We plan to focus more on brand activation partnerships and festival experiences across the country. In order to expand our reach, I have decided to expand into the mountain region by creating a hub in Boulder, Colorado. Being based in Columbus gives us access to the East Coast, Midwest and most of the South. Expanding to Boulder will allow us to execute events and experiences more easily across the western half of the country. We are excited about the opportunity this will provide us, and we plan to be fully established out West by the beginning of 2019.