Glamping
In 2003, Dog Can Hunt founder and creative director, Larry Lipson, was working with a friend to photograph a backcountry camping tent for a brochure for Paws Up Outfitters, one of the agency’s early clients. In the process, Lipson was inspired to take the tent decor and amenities to the next level of luxury. The tent was filled with unexpected items including —a king bed with a duvet, plush leather furnishings, art for the walls and fine rugs. A photo was captured and this image became the blueprint for the Glamping tents that Lipson envisioned and developed for the Resort at Paws Up.
In developing the overall Glamping experience for the Resort, Lipson was also inspired by the Lewis & Clark trail. Lipson and his team’s vision was to recapture the exploratory fervor of the Lewis & Clark period. So, a primary goal of Glamping at Paws Up became to provide guests with a base camp to explore the wildlife, beauty and majesty of Montana. Lipson also wanted to pay homage to the great explorers of America’s past and resurrect a curiosity to discover the surrounding wilderness.
Lipson was also inspired by the classic safari tents used in Africa. He wanted to create the same type of safari experience in America for visitors to Paws Up, which he dubbed The American Safari.® To this day, Lipson believes you don’t need to travel across the globe to experience extraordinary wildlife, wilderness and scenery. It’s possible right here in the U.S.
Larry and the Dog Can Hunt team proposed this concept of luxury camping to the Resort at Paws Up in early 2004, with a general description of Tent City, the Resort’s first camp and the associated experience. The agency proposed that the camp would be an extension of the existing Resort facilities that included luxury homes, restaurants, a reception building, an activities center, a kids’ camp and a retail store. Based on this proposal from Lipson and Dog Can Hunt, work began on the design of the camp and the logistics necessary to make it operational.
But first, Lipson needed a catchy handle for the new experience. He settled on a mashup of the words glamorous and camping, resulting in the now famous term, Glamping. Despite some resistance from Paws Up, friends and colleagues, the name stuck and was put in a press release for the New York Times. The name and an article helped launch Glamping at The Resort in June 2005. (Glamping is now a registered trademark owned by Glamping LLC, a subsidiary of Dog Can Hunt, and is a standard term used by the hospitality industry and millions of consumers.)
Today, supported by Dog Can Hunt’s 21-year marketing, design and product innovation efforts, Paws Up’s luxury camping offerings have grown to include six camps and 36 tents. The Resort is still known as the founder of Glamping and as a leader, pioneer and innovator in the experiential travel and hospitality industry worldwide. Visitors from all over the world continue to arrive every season to experience Montana, as it was meant to be.