The Tailgate Podcast: Marketing for Hunting and Angling Brands

Soraya Smith is President of Backpacker’s Pantry. A legendary brand that creates some of the healthiest and tastiest meals to help us thrive in the outdoors. We discuss everything from the quality of food to the reverence of the animals we pursue and our chosen way of life. Soraya and her talented team are continually innovating in the MRE space and they’re doing it with real ingredients that taste like real food. Something we can all appreciate when spending weeks in the backcountry.&nb...

Joe Genzel is a fresh voice for Outdoor Life, one of the most venerable publications in the world of hunting and angling. With his talented editorial team, Joe is working to evolve traditional hunting and angling narratives and reshape them for today’s modern audience. Joe shares his take on our industry, influencers, marketing, the role Outdoor Life plays in our world, and other forces shaping the future of hunting and angling for generations to come. Learn more about our mission a...

Given the recent events in America, it’s time to address the issue of acceptance, inclusion, and openness within the hunting and angling industry. We have to accept new talent and new voices in the hunting and angling industry if we’re ever going to accept and grow with new consumers and new audiences. We already have a litany of rules and do’s and don’ts posted at every trailhead. So let’s not create any more when it comes to the outdoors. Nicole Qualtieri of Gear Junkie is a ...

Hunting and angling brands create some of the most innovative products in the world. Yet many brands still follow a fairly traditional marketing playbook. One brand that’s harnessing new ad technology in more inventive ways is Gunner Kennels. Sure, they make what is arguably the best dog kennel out there. But they also use augmented reality, inventive SEO/SEM strategies, and other progressive marketing tools to get the job done. And their results speak for themselves. The Tailgate P...

Word on the street is that one of the strongest leaders across all marketing disciplines in our industry is Andrew Gritzbaugh, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Gerber. Andy and I luckily had a small window to sit down with Andrew to hear more about what he’s building at Gerber. And it’s pretty clear that he has a strong command of how modern advertising is structured, how to tie it all together at all levels inside an organization, and how to turn his team loose to develop so...

Editors are some of the most powerful voices shaping our industry. Their far-reaching media platforms wield a strong influence on how we think, talk, look, and behave. That includes how brands show up in the world. Yet new voices that challenge entrenched beliefs and industry party line are often met with hostility. One editor who isn’t afraid to court controversy with strong, often contrarian opinions is Wes Siler, Editor of Indefinitely Wild for Outside Magazine. We recently sat d...

There’s a deluge of new hunting and angling brands bursting onto the scene. Most fall either on the hunting side or the angling side and few bridge that stubborn gap between the two to win the hearts and minds of both. Let alone do it well.One brand that does gets it right is Duck Camp. A truly modern, direct-to-consumer brand out there on the racetrack.We recently sat down with the talented minds behind Duck Camp at their headquarters in Austin, TX and covered a lot of ground. Sim Whatley, f...

Hunting and angling brands are putting out a lot of soulful, overly poetic work that turns every moment in the outdoors into a life-changing event. While we love a great emotional power-ballad now and then, it seems like our industry is losing a bit of the fun. Thankfully, there’s Howler Brothers. An antidote to the self-important and super-serious vibe found in a lot of outdoor brands. Andy and I recently visited Howler at their headquarters in Austin, TX to get to the bottom of how thi...

Outside of magazines and celebrity hunters and anglers, high-performance apparel brands are some of the most influential voices in the industry. Few show up with unwavering conviction and sense of purpose like First Lite. We recently sat down with Ross Copperman, President, and Kevin Harlander, Community Manager and Brand Partnership Lead, to get an inside look at the company and brand. In this special edition of The Tailgate Podcast, we’re coming to you from First Lite’s backyard in bea...

Simms is a legendary brand that not only reinvented waders, their talented team gave professional guides and hardcore anglers the bomber gear needed to go further, stay out longer, in the toughest weather Mother Nature can dish out. They added more days to an angler’s season. Yet they’re a brand that means far more than the products they make. And today we hear that story. In this episode, we sit down with K.C. Walsh, Simms owner and Executive Chairman, to hear more about his company’s c...