The Kemper Snowboard Revival

What do the 80's and 90's have in common with Kemper Snowboards? NEON. Lots of neon. Jib Hunt, CEO of Kemper Snowboards, joins Freddy Shelton of The Fifth Marketing on this episode of The First 100 to discuss how Kemper obtained their first 100 customers, influencer marketing as a strategy for growth, and advice for the upcoming entrepreneur. Jib also weighs in on the ski vs. snowboard debate.

The Beginning

Kemper Snowboards was officially founded in 1987 and quickly joined Burton, Sims, Barfoot, and Winterstick as a big name snowboarding brand in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Kemper was best known for fully embracing the neon period in both their snowboard graphics and their range of funky outerwear.

The Company partnered with the Romney group in 1989 and by 1994 was sold to an in-line skate company on the east coast. A couple of years later, Kemper Snowboards officially went out of business.

The Idea

Jib Hunt started his snowboarding career in Northern New Hampshire in 1987. By age 17, he was a sponsored amateur rider and during his college years he rode professionally for Mountain Dew, Fossil Group, 686 Technical apparel, Scott USA, and Vans. After his pro tour and graduation from college, he joined Burton Snowboards as a designer. This started his 20 year career in action sports design and marketing.

As a life-long snowboarder, Jib wanted to make his return to the snowboarding industry. Over the last decade, he noticed groups popping up that collected snowboards made during the 80's and 90's. This led to the idea of reviving one of those nostalgic brands.

The Revival

"I was doing some heavy research and noticed that there were about eight to ten thousand people my age who were getting excited about the nostalgia of snowboarding. I wanted to find out which brands might be available, and I was able to get the trademark for Kemper. That was the icing on the cake because it was one of the top brands and I rode a Kemper. Re-launching a name that people knew and was associated with a lot of great memories back in the day was my way to get back in [to the snowboarding industry] with some nitro behind it."

The First 100

The snowboard and ski industry follow an unchanging production schedule. Retailers view product and make orders between January and March of each year. The inventory is then made and shipped to stores anytime between August and September ready for the consumer to purchase before winter.

However, Jib started in March 2018, missing the window to get into retail stores. Because he was testing the market and didn't want to take unnecessary risks ordering excess inventory, he used his digital marketing expertise to make graphics, establish an Instagram following, build a website, and set up pre-orders for the following snowboarding season. "The pre-orders basically funded the company... Eventually I was knocking on doors of snowboard shops and they started picking them up as well. After those first two seasons, I was able to start selling on the same schedule as everyone else and that is where we are today. We are going into our third winter and the boards are being made and will be here in early September."