Camp Social: Contained in the Branded Weekend Getaway for Adults

Liv Schreiber, 28, was a latest school graduate working in New York Metropolis, constructing companies and a social media following, when she observed that a whole lot of content material in her orbit centered on “maintaining with the Joneses” and summers spent with “slick-back buns” within the Hamptons. “I used to be like, You already know, I actually simply want I might soar within the lake and put on no make-up and return to sleepaway camp,” Schreiber tells Entrepreneur.

^{Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Camp Social. Liv Schreiber.}

Schreiber was well-positioned to carry her thought to life. In 2019, she launched Model Caffeine, a digital advertising and marketing company, and in 2022, she based Scorching and Social, a social neighborhood that hosts meet-up occasions the place individuals of their 20s and 30s could make new buddies.

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The 2-time founder already knew methods to harness the ability of branding and social media to forge in-real-life connections, and in Might 2023, she was decided to use that experience to Camp Social. Schreiber’s first camp passed off just some months later, in August, with 150 girls in attendance.

^{Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Camp Social}

Since then, Camp Social has solely grown in reputation. The upcoming camp, which price $880 per ticket and will probably be held August 22-24, bought out in 24 hours. Camp Social has additionally expanded to supply two camps per 12 months as a substitute of 1; the primary fall weekend will probably be September 26-28.

“ I’m agency in my perception that that is what everybody’s going to be doing in just a few years.”

Schreiber has only one rule for Camp Social’s campers: Everybody comes solo and leaves as buddies. “It is a lunch desk the place everyone seems to be welcome to sit down,” she says.

Camp Social hosts girls ages 21 and older (the oldest camper to date was 65) and bunks them by age. Nevertheless, inter-generational friendships are additionally frequent, as campers meet new buddies primarily based on the actions they select all through the weekend, Schreiber says.

^{Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Camp Social}

The price of a ticket to Camp Social covers the weekend’s bills, from the bus experience from New York Metropolis to the Pocononos — an “iconic” begin throughout which individuals are “singing, dancing and assembly one another,” Schreiber says — to the in depth checklist of instructor-led actions, from boating to archery, yoga, candle-making and extra, and branded goodie baggage, which embody quite a lot of merchandise.

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“I  prefer to deal with it like an influencer model journey for the buyer,” Schreiber says. “ I’m agency in my perception that that is what everybody’s going to be doing in just a few years. I have been shouting right into a black gap, attempting to [get] manufacturers to grasp that influencers aren’t shopping for their merchandise — customers are.”

Schreiber stresses that Camp Social solely options merchandise that she actually believes in and has turned down people who aren’t the proper match. A few of Camp Social’s sponsors embody Dunkin’, fast-casual restaurant chain Dig Inn and nonalcoholic wine model Fre.

^{Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Camp Social}

Schreiber is at all times looking out for brand spanking new choices in service of what she calls “a very powerful” a part of Camp Social: Facilitating neighborhood and new friendships. “We are able to supply the whole lot and any model on the earth, however on the finish of the day, it is concerning the relationships,” Schreiber says.

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“Individuals must know [that] connection is so vital. Offline.”

“Group” is the brand new buzzword for a lot of manufacturers constructing a presence on-line — and Schreiber has combined emotions about it. “It makes me each pleased and unhappy as a result of typically individuals go into it with the fallacious intentions or the intention of making one thing simply to promote,” she says.

Today, it is authenticity and storytelling that make individuals and types stand out, in keeping with Schreiber.

On her personal social media accounts, Schreiber notices that the movies that carry out the most effective are these during which she delves into the “why” behind her beginning Camp Social — and the real-life connections shaped. A number of buddies she met at Camp Social attended her latest marriage ceremony. One in every of them gave a speech; one other signed the ketubah.

^{Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Camp Social}

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In an period when many People wrestle to domesticate significant relationships greater than ever earlier than — 21% of U.S. adults really feel lonely, and 73% attribute it to expertise, in keeping with a latest report from Harvard Graduate Faculty of Schooling — in-person connection stays Schreiber’s main objective.

“There’s an enormous model story that we are able to inform right here,” Schreiber says, “however the primary factor that folks must know is that connection is so vital. Offline. We have to make the most of social media as a software to be social and deal with the loneliness epidemic.”

This text is a part of our ongoing Ladies Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of operating a enterprise as a lady.

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