Industry Profile: Camplified Takes the Arena Show to Summer Camp

It is no secret that tweens are a coveted demographic. The question for music industry professionals, though, is how to tap into this alternately fickle and fiercely loyal group of trendsetting media consumers.

Enter Camplified, a summer concert festival that stops at more than 60 summer camps across the United States, and introduces 135 up-and-coming, family friendly rock musicians to more than 30,000 teens and tweens every year.

Camplified, which is celebrating its tenth summer on the road, is the brainchild of music industry executive Aimee Berger. One night in 2000, Berger — an artist, songwriter, producer and manager — had grown frustrated with the economic woes facing a rapidly changing music industry, and the lack of money available for artist
development.

In planning her next career steps, Berger recalled her happiest childhood memories, when she attended summer camp every year. At Kutsher’s Sports Academy, athletes were frequently brought in to interact with campers.

“I thought, why can’t the same apply to artists? We could bring in emerging artists [to summer camps] who are on the cusp of something happening.” The next year, she founded Camplified.

Here’s how it works: Some camps make their kids very aware that Camplified is coming. Others keep it a secret and surprise the campers. Either way, when tour vehicles arrive on camp property and a production crew pitches tents that serve as activity stations (arts and crafts, obstacle courses, etc.), campers get energized. Each stop on the Camplified tour features performances by three or four musicians, and throughout the day, the performers take part in activities alongside the campers. The day ends with a 90-minute concert, followed by a meet and greet with the performers, who sign official Camplified posters.

It’s like Lollapolooza for the Justin Bieber-loving crowd.

Most of the performers are relative unknowns – young singers and songwriters from all musical genres trying to catch a big break. Last year’s tour introduced campers to then-unknown Cody Simpson, a 14-year-old Australian singer-songwriter who is now signed with Atlantic Records. This year’s tour features McKenzie Comer, Jenny and Ashley, Brkn Rbtz, and a singer-songwriter named Jessarae, whose star, Berger says, is on the rise.

Camplified, which partnered with the music publishing, marketing and management company Primary Wave Music in 2008, continues to expand — and turn a profit — thanks in part to a handful of tween-oriented brands (such as Cartoon Network, Scholastic and Justine magazine) who have jumped on-board as sponsors.

“The beginning of the tour was focused just on artists benefiting from this vehicle,” Berger says. “But very quickly, the brands started to seek the same thing. They said, we have to reach this audience. Here is a finite setting — a captive audience of kids.”

According to Berger, summer camp is a multi-billion dollar industry, and until Camplified, the music industry ignored its potential.

“You have, in some instances, affluent kids going to camp who are tastemakers,” she says. “Those kids are in a position to early adopt, go back to their hometowns in all different areas…and tell all their friends about their summer,” including the artists they saw at Camplified. Capitalizing on tweens’ proficient use of social media,
Camplified provides campers with “all-access passes” and encourages them to share pictures of the festivities online.

Unlike other major summer concert tours, which rely on ticket sales to stay afloat, Camplified does not even sell tickets, and focuses instead on assembling a diverse group of performers, without worrying about who can or can’t fill stadium seats. Camplified also eschews most traditional advertising (radio, TV, print) and instead
markets directly to the campers.

“Our job is to bring new artists into camp and enlighten the kids,” Berger says. “Music history has to pay attention. I’ve tapped into a marketplace where we keep seeing artists pop from this.”

Story by Elizabeth Weinstein.