Your Most Loyal Customers Aren't Your Growth Engine

Most outdoor brands aren't struggling because their product is wrong.

They're struggling because their marketing was built for someone who was never going to be hard to win over in the first place.

For decades, the outdoor industry has designed campaigns, content, and brand identity around its most passionate consumers: the Core segment. The people who live and breathe the sport, upgrade their gear every season, and don't need to be convinced of anything.

The problem is that the Core segment makes up roughly 5% of the total market.

The other 90%, the Active and Casual consumers who now represent the majority of outdoor participation and over $250 billion in annual gear and apparel spending, have largely been an afterthought. And that's where growth stalls.

Why the Industry Built Itself This Way

This isn't a failure of strategy, it's a failure of perspective.

The people making product and marketing decisions inside most outdoor companies are Core consumers themselves. They climb, ski, run ultras, and plan ambitious backcountry trips. They understand that customer intuitively because they are that customer.

So the work reflects Core values. The creative celebrates intensity, the messaging highlights technical superiority, and the brand voice assumes fluency. For a long time, that worked well. Building cult loyalty among a tight-knit, passionate audience was a legitimate path to brand credibility.

But the market has changed, and the data makes it hard to ignore.

According to OIA's 2025 ConsumerVue research, 181 million Americans now participate in outdoor recreation — 59% of the U.S. population, up 27.5 million since the pandemic. Most of those new participants don't look like the Core. Their motivations are different. Their buying triggers are different. And brands that haven't adjusted are still speaking fluently to an audience that's already converted, while talking over the heads of everyone else.

The Three Segments and Where the Revenue Actually Lives

OIA's ConsumerVue framework breaks the market into three groups:

Core (~5% of participants): High-frequency, high-spend per person. Motivated by performance, skill development, and peak experiences. They buy to upgrade and push limits. They already believe in your brand.

Active (~50% of participants): The largest segment. They participate regularly, spend about 30% less per person than Core consumers, and are motivated by health, fitness, and enjoyment. They buy when planning trips, replacing gear, or deepening a hobby.

Casual (~42% of participants): The fastest-growing segment. They get outside to unwind, recharge, and find balance. They buy when starting something new — entry and exploration, not mastery.

Active and Casual consumers together represent roughly 90% of participants and the majority of total market spending. And most outdoor brand marketing isn't built for them.

What They Actually Need From Brands

Here's what gets missed: Active and Casual consumers aren't harder to convert because they care less. They're harder to convert because most brands aren't speaking to what they actually care about.

Core consumers want to “dominate” their sport. Active and Casual consumers want to “feel confident, calm, and capable.” They want to know the outdoors is for them, not just for people who've been doing it for half their life.

Their buying decisions are more intentional and more research-driven. They rely on brand websites, trusted recommendations, and influencers for reassurance. They don't need to be sold on the idea of spending time outside. They already believe in it. What they need is a brand that meets them where they are, not one that makes them feel like a beginner surrounded by Olympians.

If your messaging assumes expertise and celebrates only peak performance, you're not just missing the 90%. You're signaling that your brand is not for them. 

What This Means for Brand Marketing in 2026

Now let’s shift from theory to practice.

Audit your creative for Core bias. Look at your homepage, ads, and email flows. Is the imagery and language designed for someone charging a technical climb, or someone discovering they actually enjoy hiking on weekends? If you're not sure, ask people outside your team who fit the Active or Casual profile how your creative makes them feel. Are they inspired or intimidated? Their reaction will tell you a lot.

Redefine what "aspirational" looks like. Confidence, calm, and belonging are just as compelling to 90% of your market as intensity is to the Core. Expanding what aspiration looks like in your creative isn't dumbing down your brand, it’s clearing a path towards it. 

Build for the long decision cycle. Active and Casual consumers don't buy on impulse. They research, compare, and look for reassurance over time. That means consistent, helpful, accessible content matters more than seasonal campaign bursts. Brands that win here do so through always-on education and storytelling, not just product drops.

The brands that grow from here won't be the ones with the most loyal Core following. They'll be the ones who figured out how to earn the other 90%.

The Shift to Reach the 90% Has Already Started

Engaging Active and Casual consumers does not mean abandoning the Core. It means recognizing that loyalty and growth are different muscles, and most outdoor brands have only been training one of them. Outdoor brands like Halfdays, Seniq, Cotopaxi, and Rumpl continue to expand their customer base with approachable and emotionally resonant creative.

At Foghorn Labs, we've spent 15 years and over 100 brand partnerships helping outdoor brands connect market intelligence to marketing execution. That experience shows up in the numbers. 

Across our client base, brands working with us see an average of 40% YoY growth in paid media revenue and 49% YoY growth in organic revenue. Email programs we build generate an average of 1,220% attributable revenue growth in the first 12 months. And brands that work with us across paid media, SEO, and email see 339% more YoY revenue lift than brands using just one channel.

Those numbers don't come from chasing trends. They come from building marketing systems anchored in who's actually in the market and what those people need to hear.

If your brand is still built around the Core, the opportunity cost is real. The 90% is not a marketing segment, it is the market.

Let's talk about what that means for your brand.

Source: OIA ConsumerVue research. Publicly available data available at outdoorindustry.org/research/consumervue.