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Web Brings New Meaning to 'Campsite'
By Stephanie Schorow , Boston Herald
Jason of horror-flick fame might disagree, but summer camps produce some of the best memories of childhood: campfires, out-of-tune singalongs, blackened marshmallows with molten interiors, strangely compelling if useless crafts like knotting lanyards, plus swimming, sun and games.
Growing up in New York City, Ari Ackerman lived for the camp experience. Every summer for 11 years he headed out of the city on the camp bus. Even while getting his MBA at Northwestern University, he fondly remembered camp.
This is why he launched Bunk1.com, which helps camps build Web sites where parents can view digital photos of their children in camp activities, send them e-mail and care packages, and read camp newsletters.
Born of a class project when Ackerman was at Northwestern, Bunk1.com now has arrangements with more than 2,000 camps throughout the country, including many in New England, and in Israel and Australia. It has been profitable for three years -- a survivor of the dot-com boom and bust.
But Ackerman is adamant about one thing. Camp is not meant to be a place where kids are hunched over computers. Parental e-mails are printed out and distributed to campers; the kids write back the old-fashioned "hello muddah-hello faddah" way via snail mail. Family members can keep track of Junior but "it doesn't disrupt the experience," Ackerman said.
Photos are password-protected so only parents can access pictures of their children. Fees paid either by the camps or by the parents support the business. Gushing grandparents and parents are glad to keep track of kids from hundreds of miles away.
Now 32, Ackerman still speaks with boyish enthusiasm about his project. "We never fell for the dot-com craziness. One competitor got $10 million (in venture capital); we just kind of built it slowly."
Many camps "don't have a technology expert," which is where Bunk1.com steps in, Ackerman said.
Bunk1.com clients range from horseback camps, religious camps and weight-loss camps to YMCA and JCC camps. The Web site also posts jobs and lets users search for camps in their area.
What's instructive about the Bunk1.com experience is how much it harks backs to an old business model, before the hyped, this-will-change-everything-so-pony-up-the-IPO madness of the late 1990s. "I was just a guy with an idea," Ackerman said. "I want the camp to be camp."
Ackerman's enthusiasm for camping has never waned; his Web site even describes the softball positions played by his staff. "I feel I got lucky. I found an industry that I loved," Ackerman said. His newest project is CampAlumni.com, a sort of Classmates.com site where camp veterans can connect.
After I interviewed Ackerman, random camp songs -- "Kumbaya," "Rise and Shine" -- ran through my head. If only there'd been digital photos in my day, to record the moment my team won the Camp Olympics. Now ... what did I do with all those lanyards?
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BUNK1 MESSENGER IS LAUNCHED
By: Andrew Ackerman
TECHNOTRENDS: BEYOND CAMPER EMAIL
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WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?
By: Andrew Ackerman
TECHNOTRENDS: CELLPHONES, BLACKBERRIES ... WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?
(A LOT, ACTUALLY)
By: Andrew Ackerman
WHAT IF PHONE CALLS WERE AS EASY AS EMAIL?
By: Andrew Ackerman
THREE YEARS OF COPING WITH COPPA
By: Andrew Ackerman
KEEPING YOUR WEBSITE FRESH
By: Andrew Ackerman
10 THINGS YOUR CAMP WEBSITE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE
By: Andrew Ackerman
STAFFING
YOUR CAMP IN THE AFTERMATH OF SEPTEMBER 11TH
By: Andrew Ackerman
COPING
WITH COPPA:
PROTECTING CAMPERS' PRIVACY AND AVOIDING BIG GOVERNMENT FINES
By: Michael Steinig, Bunk1.com
CAMP
SEARCH ENGINES: IF YOU BUILD IT… SO WHAT?
By: Andrew Ackerman and Ari Ackerman
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