Airstream CEO reveals how the iconic 86-year-old company is going after millennials

Airstream

The Airstream Basecamp.

• Iconic trailer manufacture Airstream has captured millennial buyers with two new products.
• Airstream CEO Bob Wheeler is glad that younger customers have responded so well, but he also said that 86-year-old Airstream's values have always aligned with millennials.
• Airstream is all about design and adventures, not owning a lot of stuff.

Airstream is an 86-year-old American icon, famous for its "silver bullet" trailers - roadgoing symbols of freedom and great industrial design.

But its two newest products are intended to appeal to millennials, a generational push that according to CEO Bob Wheeler shouldn't surprise anyone.

"A couple of things have aligned well for us," Wheeler said in an interview with Business Insider, adding that to a certain extent Airstream's appeal to the largest generation since the Baby Boomers was a happy coincidence.

"The cultural values that are part of millennial DNA are around the idea that your self-worth isn't determined by the things you own but by the adventures you have. We're lucky to be a brand that's at the center of that. Airstream inspires fellowship."

Airstream's most expensive Travel Trailer starts at $150,000, but its two newest trailers are priced under $50,000.

The Basecamp, at just over $36,000, arrived in late 2016. At launch, Airstream called the trailer, which sleeps two, "our most nimble Airstream yet." The compact design departs from the familiar silver-bullet shape, but it's relatively lightweight and doesn't require a big SUV or pickup to tow.

"Stylistically, it's much more modern than the traditional silver bullet," said Wheeler, who became CEO in 2005. "It's designed to be more camping oriented. It's really struck a chord with people who want to hit the road and don't want to tow a big trailer around."

Airstream

Nest by Airstream.

The "Nest by Airstream" trailer is a different story. Airstream acquired NEST Caravan, based in Bend, OR, in 2016, when the small company's fiberglass trailer was still at the prototype stage. Launched in April, Nest costs $49,500, and it weighs just 3,400 pounds.

"We stumbled across it, fell in love with it, and decided it was a product we could bring to market," Wheeler said. "It had a very different look and feel than anything Airstream had ever made before, but it touched our values of innovation."

Nest generated immediate interest for the Ohio-based company - but it was unlike anything the firm had previously experienced.

"We had 90,000 sales leads, but 90% went directly to website - and they went to Nest, not to look at our traditional products," Wheeler said. "These buyers are millennials or a little older."

Airstream

Airstream CEO Bob Wheeler

Basecamp customers also tended to be younger, but Nest customers differed from Basecamp buyers in an important respect.

"They're more urban and more design-focused," Wheeler noted. "They're less drawn to rugged outdoors activities, and they're towing with a Mercedes or BMW SUV."

The Basecamp has clearly been a success for Airstream, which is a division of Thor Industries. Wheeler said that the company is investigating larger designs and focusing on adding a permanent rather than convertible bed.

With Nest, Wheeler said it's too soon to talk about expanding. "We need to learn a lot more about who's buying," Wheeler said. "Fiberglass is a challenge, and we don't undertake that lightly."

Tapping into millennial aspirations has been a good thing for Airstream, and it hasn't hurt that the generation, born between roughly 1981 and 1997, is 75-million strong.

"It makes us extremely bullish about our future," Wheeler said. But he quickly added that millennial values are consistent with the values Airstream has promoted for over 80 years.

"We're very lucky, but this is a validation of our thinking."