TREAD Agency

Lighting the Way Forward with the Future of 2A Marketing at the NSSF 2025

At this year’s National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Marketing and Leadership Summit, our CEO, Dan Kahn, gave a presentation on marketing in the 2A space. This summit brings together leaders across the firearm industry to share ideas, discuss challenges and explore new ways to grow in one of the most regulated industries in the country.

Dan’s presentation focused on niche and highly regulated spaces where traditional marketing tactics don’t always apply. Firearm brands face unique challenges, from platform restrictions to intense public scrutiny. What works in other industries often needs to be completely reimagined in ours.

One of the key points he shared is the importance of trust and must be built through real, honest storytelling. A recent example of this that Dan highlighted is when a Stanley customer’s car caught fire, she posted a video showing her Stanley tumbler still intact with ice inside. The clip went viral. Rather than respond with a polished campaign, Stanley’s CEO posted a simple video saying the company would buy her a new car. It wasn’t scripted or flashy, but it felt authentic. That authenticity resonated. It earned trust and gave people a reason to feel connected to the brand.

That’s the kind of moment every brand should be prepared to recognize and ready to act on.

The presentation received positive feedback from attendees, many of whom told Dan that the session gave them a new perspective on marketing in this space and how to lead with clarity and intention, not just tactics.

To help light the way forward for this summit, we prepared 250 branded boxes to be delivered and placed in each attendee’s hotel room. Each box included a copy of Dan’s book, “The New Rules of the Road,” along with a stainless steel Breaker flashlight from our friends at COAST. The goal of the box was simple: offer something that would challenge how attendees think about modern marketing. And we hit our mark. The energy at the summit was unmistakable, with the right mix of connection, momentum and forward-looking conversations.

At TREAD, we are grateful to the NSSF team for hosting such a well-run event. It’s clear the industry is thinking bigger and getting more strategic about the future.