What Outdoor Media Summit 2026 revealed about consumer behavior, brand differentiation, and outdoor marketing heading into 2027.
Outdoor participation remains strong, but that doesn’t mean selling outdoor products is getting any easier. That was one of our biggest takeaways from Outdoor Media Summit 2026, particularly during the State of the Industry & A Look Ahead session featuring Matt Tucker of Circana, Gabe Maier of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, and Claus Moberg of Outside Inc.
The discussion covered participation trends, consumer spending, retail dynamics, and the changing ways people discover products. Across those topics, one theme stood out: People still care about getting outside, but they’re being more deliberate about what they buy, which brands they trust, and what they consider worth the money. For outdoor brands, understanding that shift is an important part of figuring out where growth will come from in 2027.
Outdoor Participation Is Strong. Converting That Interest Is the Challenge.
Circana reported that 183.2 million Americans participate in outdoor activities, representing 59% of Americans ages six and older. Trail running participation has also grown 57% since 2019. Those numbers are an important reminder that when outdoor product sales slow, it doesn’t automatically mean people are losing interest in the outdoors.
The opportunity is to connect what brands sell more directly to how people actually spend their time outside. A jacket is more than its materials and technical specifications; it’s what someone reaches for on a cold morning trail run. A tent is more than its packed size and weight; it’s part of a weekend someone has been looking forward to for months. Product features still matter, particularly for technical outdoor gear, but customers also need to understand how those features translate into real-world benefits.
That’s where useful product education, relevant creative, clear merchandising, and content built around specific activities can make a difference. Showing how a product fits into someone’s life gives potential customers a better reason to consider it than another image and a list of specifications.
Outdoor Consumers Are Looking More Closely at Value
One of Circana’s key messages was that consumers aren’t necessarily pulling back; they’re becoming more selective. The session highlighted a market where outdoor spending has remained relatively flat while unit sales have declined, with value, utility, and emotional relevance emerging as important factors in driving growth.
For brands, that creates a challenge that goes beyond traffic and conversion rates. Consumers want to understand what they’re getting for their money. Why does this product cost more? What makes it different from a less expensive alternative? Will it perform the way they need it to, and why should they trust the brand behind it? These are questions marketing needs to help answer well before a customer reaches checkout.
Product comparisons, customer reviews, expert recommendations, demonstrations, and real-world use cases can help shoppers evaluate their options with more confidence. Just as importantly, that information needs to be easy to find across the website, product pages, search results, and other places where customers research a purchase. When shoppers have plenty of alternatives, clarity and credibility become essential parts of communicating value.
Discounts Can Drive Sales, but They Can’t Build a Brand on Their Own
The discussion from Grassroots Outdoor Alliance touched on the effects of years of overproduction, heavy promotions, and products becoming increasingly similar. When consumers see a crowded market full of products that appear interchangeable, price becomes an easy way to make a decision.
Promotions have a place in an outdoor brand’s marketing strategy. They can help move seasonal inventory, support key retail periods, and give shoppers a reason to act. The problem comes when a discount becomes the primary reason someone buys. If a customer only sees the value in your product when it’s 20% off, it’s worth asking what your marketing is communicating the rest of the time.
Strong product storytelling can help give customers other reasons to choose a brand. Reviews, user-generated content, product testing, customer experiences, and clear explanations of what makes a product different all help establish value beyond the price tag. The goal isn’t to avoid competing on price altogether; it’s to make sure price isn’t the only thing separating your product from the alternatives.
For Outdoor Brands, Being Specific Is a Strength
Another point that stood out from Gabe Maier of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance was the importance of specialization, including what brands make, how much they produce, and where they sell. For smaller and specialty outdoor brands in particular, that has implications for both business strategy and marketing.
Not every brand needs to appeal to every outdoor consumer. A company that makes gear for a specific activity, environment, or type of athlete can have a real advantage when it understands that audience and communicates with them clearly. Rather than trying to speak to everyone, brands can build more relevant campaigns around the people most likely to value what they offer, create product pages that address those customers’ questions, and develop content that demonstrates a deeper understanding of the activity.
That specificity also gives customers a clearer sense of what a brand stands for. In a crowded category, trying to appeal to everyone can make a brand harder to distinguish. Knowing who you serve, what you do well, and why it matters gives people something concrete to remember—and gives your marketing a more focused direction.
Product Discovery Is Changing. Your Marketing Needs to Work Together.
The session also highlighted the growing connection between content, community, and commerce, including the role of social commerce and AI-powered shopping tools in product discovery. This is an area outdoor brands should be paying attention to as they plan for 2027, particularly as consumers move between platforms and sources of information before making a purchase.
Someone might discover a product in a creator’s video, encounter a paid social ad a few days later, search Google for reviews, ask an AI tool to compare alternatives, and eventually return to the brand’s website to buy. Another customer might find a brand through organic search, subscribe to its emails, and make a purchase months later. These journeys make it harder to evaluate marketing channels in isolation, because each interaction can contribute to a customer’s decision.
Paid media, email, SEO, answer engine optimization (AEO), creator partnerships, customer reviews, organic social, and the website all play different roles in discovery and conversion. They don’t need to use identical messaging, but the experience should feel consistent. The information customers find should reinforce the same brand positioning, product benefits, and reasons to trust the business.
It’s also worth thinking beyond traditional search rankings. As consumers increasingly use AI-powered tools to research products and compare options, brands need clear, useful, well-structured information that helps both people and these tools understand what they offer. SEO and AEO are part of that effort, helping customers find relevant information when they’re researching products, evaluating alternatives, or looking for recommendations. Neither replaces a strong brand or useful content; both work best when there’s something genuinely helpful to discover.
What Outdoor Brands Should Prioritize Heading Into 2027
The takeaway from Outdoor Media Summit wasn’t that outdoor brands simply need to do more marketing. It’s that they need to be more intentional about how they communicate value and help customers make decisions. As brands plan for the next year, a few questions are worth revisiting:
- Is your product’s value clear? Can customers quickly understand what makes it useful, different, and worth the price?
- Does your content reflect how people actually use your products? Are you showing real applications and benefits, or relying primarily on features and product imagery?
- Are you giving customers reasons to trust you? How do reviews, customer stories, expert knowledge, and product education support purchasing decisions?
- Is your brand positioning specific enough? Can the right customer tell who your products are for and why they should choose you?
- Does your marketing work together? Do your ads, website, email, organic content, and search presence reinforce a consistent message?
- Can customers find useful answers wherever they search? As discovery expands across traditional search, social platforms, and AI tools, is your product information clear, accessible, and helpful?
These aren’t new marketing principles, but the environment in which brands apply them is changing. Outdoor consumers have plenty of ways to discover products and compare options. Earning their attention is one challenge; giving them enough confidence to make a purchase is another. Brands that understand both will be better positioned to build lasting customer relationships instead of relying on the next campaign or promotion to drive sales.
What This Means for Outdoor Brands
Outdoor Media Summit reinforced an important point for brands heading into 2027: A strong outdoor market doesn’t guarantee easy growth for every outdoor business. Consumers can remain passionate about the outdoors while becoming more careful about where they spend their money, making clear positioning, credible product education, and a connected customer experience all the more important.
At Akers Digital, attending industry events like Outdoor Media Summit helps us stay close to the conversations shaping outdoor retail and consumer behavior. Hearing directly from industry leaders gives us useful context for how we approach digital marketing strategy, from paid media and e-commerce to SEO, AEO, and the content that helps customers make informed decisions.
For outdoor brands, the question isn’t just how to reach more people. It’s whether those people understand what makes the brand worth choosing. That’s a good place to start planning for 2027.
The insights and data referenced in this article were shared during “State of the Industry & A Look Ahead” at Outdoor Media Summit 2026, featuring Matt Tucker of Circana, Gabe Maier of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, and Claus Moberg of Outside Inc.