Summer - InsideOutdoor Magazine

Gorp
on) as well as traditionally more specific labels (Baby Boomers,
Gen X, etc.). Instead, Karma Queens types consumers by how
they buy and why, not solely by gender, age or socioeconomic
and/or generation class.
A C-Type (for “Consumer Type”) “is a rich, three-dimensional
portrait of a type of consumer derived from their key attitudes
and behaviors, their social status, and other demographic factors,”
writes Rental. C-Types “are all about the idiosyncratic
characteristics that make consumers distinct.”
Rental is careful to point out that these are certainly not the
only C-Types out there. In addition, “the ground is constantly
shifting beneath [C-Types]. The demographic number for some
types are growing, for some types are waning. Outmoded
types are always making way for new ones.”
He is even more careful to say that C-Types are not “a black
box to success.” Rather, they “should be used to challenge your
own thinking, not to replace it.” Such challenge to thinking is
exactly what’s needed in the outdoor industry right now.
Of his nine C-Types (Karma Queens, Parentocrats, Denim Dads,
Ms. Independents, Innerpreneurs, Middlemen, Culture Crossers,
Geek Gods and E-litists), Parentocrats and Innerpreneurs are particularly
poignant from an outdoor industry perspective.
“Not only do Parentocrats believe that their children are
special,” writes Rental, “they believe that their children are important
to the world. Therefore, they must shield these special
creatures from any outside influence that might harm them and
see that they get the opportunities to surpass their peers.”
By doing this, he adds, “they often deny their children some
of the classical joys of childhood — the ability to experiment
and fail and the freedom to waste time and be carefree.”
Innerpreneurs, meanwhile, “recognize themselves as the
CEOs of their own lives and the chief managers of their own
“brand.” And, as such, they want to make sure that they … are
constantly evolving and improving with the times.” One thing
they have in common with entrepreneurs, says Rental, “is their
willingness to take risks. … To Innerpreneurs, life’s journey
should be an adventure.”
I believe that what these two types represent and how we
deal with them are far more important than mere demographic
target groups (youth, women, Boomers, etc.). They symbolize,
respectively, the brake and the gas pedal in the outdoor industry’s
progress. Dealing with them may indeed be the “killer
app” that can move the industry forward successfully.
In an excellent article about a death on an Outward Bound
course (National Geographic Adventure, May 2007; “Special
Report: A Death at Outward Bound”), writer Christopher Ketcham
poses a fundamental issue that we, the outdoor industry,
must consider: “Even with a renewed commitment to risk
management, has Outward Bound’s wilderness philosophy, a
philosophy forged in the American wilds in the 1960s, fallen
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76 | InsideOutdoor | Summer 2007