INDUSTRY INSIDER: SKULLCANDY
Author: Andrew Campo	Features | Friday, 10 July 2009 08:30

Photos Courtesy of Jason Kimball

 

Skullcandy is making their name known in motocross and the man behind the brand movement has a pretty rad history and very bright future. In this installation of Industry Insider, we sit down with Jason Kimball and get the inside line from the man who brings music to our ears.

 

A lot of people would kill to grow up snowboarding around SLC. Step back and give us a glimpse inside some of your favorite days riding as a youth.

We get pretty spoiled here in the SLC with 5-6 quality resorts all within less than 1 hour of the airport and the best snow anywhere. There have been countless days of just running laps at Brighton with your crew, so much natural fun stuff to hit and it is endless when there is a nice foot or more of fresh. Nothing beats Brighton on a day like that. I am too old to really get into the park, so I stick with the tree runs and all the numerous little drops and stashes to be had. I can be from my driveway to the lift in 30 mins, spin some laps in the morning and be back to my office and get my work done! A good day in the Backcountry on the snowmobile is pretty amazing as well and that is endless around here.

 

Give us the lowdown on your industry background?

I went to school for Project Management and was running multi-million dollar construction projects and just started helping some friends and companies with contracts and projects for fun, and some opportunities opened up with that and I ran with them. I started with OGIO back in the day and started another brand for them called SUBJECT; it was going to be their answer to the “core” market and help bridge the gap OGIO had at the time with the Board Sports segments. I worked hard with a rad group of friends for over 3 years and built something super solid and then they pulled the plug out of nowhere! Go figure. While there I began working for SESSIONS and was running their Snowboard program and then built up a Wake and Moto program there as well. I was with them for almost 7 years and left almost 2 years ago for my current gig at SKULLCANDY. In between all that I was also consulting on a series of Snowboarding Video Games called AMPED and traveling the world snowboarding. I also helped start an independent Snowboard Boot brand called Celsius back in 2004 and they are still alive and kicking, and have done various other projects and consulting along the way to pay the bills. Anywhere from branding and marketing to product and design work to music licensing and production.

 

Andy Bell convinced you to hit the freestyle ramps for the first time at the OGIO compound and apparently you lived to tell about it. One would assume that your days with OGIO were filled with sketchy moments. Was hitting the ramp for the first time one of the harder things you’ve faced on a bike?

Yeah, Bell and I started working at OGIO around the same time and he is a huge reason why I even got into Moto and began to like it so much and start riding in the first place. We had a sweet little track and some ramps at the office back in the day and we would get after it on occasion. One day Andy decided that it was time for me to hit the ramp, so he ran me by the takeoff what must have been 100 times before I finally nutted up and did it. On top of that I have had plenty of sketchy days and trips with Andy and the crew and continue to do so now, just not as much now that he is all "Big Time!" Believe it or not he has always been good with not letting me get too far ahead of myself and killing myself! Just like everybody else I have had some regrettable moments, like my first big crash on a KTM I had finally bought from Bell after always just borrowing one when we would go ride. I crashed at the track and ended up breaking my thumb, wrist, 4 fingers and most of the bones in my hand. Nothing surgery and a few pins can’t fix! I also missed the foam pit once on a BMX bike and that nearly took me out for good.

 

When Did Skullcandy enter into the market?

We launched in 2003 and are now just barely beginning to hit the Moto market, and we are taking it slow to make sure we do things right. We now have a moto specific rep force and you should start to see us pop up more in your favorite Moto shops. If you don’t see us, make sure and ask for it.

 

Any special projects or moto specific products?

We have some amazing Day in the Dirt headphones we did with TLD that are dropping any day now and we have some other things in the works with them. We are working on some other projects with FMF, Rockstar, and Hart & Huntington. Be on the look out for a MX goggle collab with Dragon coming next Spring as well…its hott!

 

Describe your position at Skullcandy and bring us inside a typical month in your world?

I am the Sports Marketing Manager and I oversee all of the Sports Marketing Programs…Snow, Ski, Skate, Moto, Wake, BMX, Surf and more. We have a solid group of Team Managers who manage all the athletes in their respective sports, and I work with all of them to make things happen. We have some of the best people around, from the athletes to everyone in the office; it is a pretty solid crew. On any given month I can be at the office having meetings to have other meetings, working on budgets and contracts, mapping our ad buys, blogging, setting up shoots, placing product, dealing with the best athletes in the world, airports, emails, phone, and more emails. In between that I am on the road and all over the place, from a Surf shoot for SKDY TV, to Florida to do some Wake Biz, back home for a Snow event and back to Cali for Supercross. Needless to say I am all over the place and just doing what I can to get the brand out there in front of the people. I also manage the Sports side of Skullcandy TV and we are always working on generating new content to keep everyone coming back for more.

 

You have been able to find a lot of success in what appears to be a relatively short period of time in regards to brand growth. How did you identify the market niche and in what sport did you introduce the product to first?

We started in our own backyard on the Wasatch Mountains with Snowboarding, so I guess you could say we hit that market first. We do have the best snow on earth and a pretty heavy presence in both Snow and Ski. From there it went into pretty much Board Sports in general and, of course, Music. Our founder saw a need for Music in Action Sports and went for it with our first product the Link System, a device that allowed you to listen to music and use your cell phone together. While snowboarding he always noticed people fumbling trying to get their music off so they could answer their cell phone and figured there should be a better way! From there it has snowballed to the current product line and the launch of our new dB Collection.

 

The marketing efforts at Skullcandy seems to being paying off in big ways. The brand seems to easily reach out to the youth culture market that is without a doubt influenced by sports such as snowboarding and moto. Can you bring us inside some of the strategic planning done in effort to cross-market to multiple platforms?

We offer a unique product and I think it covers any and all the segments. To us it is more a lifestyle and about the individual. Who doesn’t listen to music or talk on their super cool iPhone? I see it all as one big casserole; I think all the segments mesh and crossover together in so many ways. Meaning most anybody that rides moto also either skates, snowboards, rides BMX or has a boat and wakeboards and so on. Supercross is a perfect example, at any one of those events you, of course, have the race, but in the pits you have a BMX and Skate demo from the doggs at 50/50, to live music and DJ’s spinning, to a wakeboard boat parked in the middle of the track. To me that pretty much sums it up. I like to look at and respect what other “outside” brands have done like DVS and more recently Volcom, and the success they are having by keeping to their roots and not trying to re-invent the wheel.

 

The website at Skullcandy kicks ass. Walk us through the site and the vision behind the multi media outlet you have created.

Thanks; we are hyped to hear that! The website is a really big focus of ours and we have a wicked team dedicated to creating and maintaining our sites, both skullcandy.com and skullcandytv.com. As you know, the web is the biggest marketing tool for any brand and you need to keep things fresh and clean to keep people coming back for more. We just want a site that conveys our story and who we are as a brand and keep things consistent across the board. Be on the look out next month when we drop a new look to our site. We have been hard at work on it and I think everyone will enjoy the new look and feel even more. We try to stay on top of things with fresh blog posts and new vids to enjoy over on Skullcandy TV, keep everyone up to date with what Skullcandy and our athletes and artists are up to. Content is king!

 

In regards to working with product development, do you work directly with athletes in regards to R&D?

Our athletes are a huge testing ground for us and we value their feedback a great deal. They are the ones out in the trenches everyday beating the crap out of themselves and our products, so there is not a better crew to test out the new goods. Some of our OG athletes have their own Signature pieces that they developed from the ground up with our in house product/design team…check out the new MFM pieces, from snowboarding legend Marc Frank Montoya.

 

What Pros are you currently working with, and outside of Dean Wilason what amateur guys are on your radar?

On the Pro side of things with SX/MX we back Matt Lemoine, Justin Barcia, Josh Grant, Justin Brayton, Mike Sleeter, Ryan Morais and the Troy Lee Designs and and Hart & Huntington teams, and a solid group of other riders rocking and running our goods, like Nico Izzi, Will Hahn, Mike Alessi and more. Trying to keep things tight, since we are still new to moto. For AM’s of course Dean Wilson, Eli Tomac, Copper Webb, Nick Paluzzi and we have Jessica Patterson and Tarah Geiger running the Skull in the WMA. We have a wicked FMX squad with Mike Mason, Adam Jones, Ronnie Renner, Brian Foster and of course the late, great and never forgotten Jeremy Lusk. He did so much for us and was one of my all time favorite people to work with and just a real solid person.

 

Name some of your personal moto highlights thus far from ’09?

It was cool to go to the first Supercross this past year and see SKULLCANDY on a couple rigs and team bikes! I worked so hard to get things rolling in moto and start to build something there with Skullcandy, so I was proud of that. I have enjoyed seeing what Dean has been doing and looking forward to his first pro race and his future with the brand. It was rad to see Barcia do so well at his first National and prove to people he is the real deal. I have worked with that kid for a while now and have seen him progress and grow. I was super hyped to see the first custom SKULLCANDY/BELL helmet we did for Lemoine and then to see it show up in the mags and all over the web was pretty dope. Thanks Tag and look for more coming soon. I was stoked for JG on getting his first 450 overall at Red Bud last weekend, especially after seeing his gnarly bail the race before. I am looking forward to seeing Renner break his ¼ pipe World Record in a couple weeks in Chicago and I was pretty happy when I finally hit the 125 ft. step up a few weeks ago at my favorite track here in Utah, Bunker Hill. That is a big step for me, but I have a long way to go! All in all I am just happy to see Skullcandy in the moto world and to continue seeing more Skulls show up on people's bikes, helmets, gear and seeing more and more kids rocking our headphones on the line and in the pits. Thanks to all of you and for the support!

 

Thanks for your time Jason and thanks for taking our readers inside your world!

No problem. Thank to you and VURB for the opportunity and for working hard for all the riders and companies involved. I am hyped on the website and what you guys are doing. Keep an eye out for more SKULLCANDY and be sure and check out skullcandy.com and skullcandytv.com on the daily! A Big Thanks to all our riders for supporting and backing what we do.