Building A Brand In Uncertain Times

mike lewis

• June 24 2008
• 2,041 views
• 15 comments

Peter Line.
Photo: Courtesy Forum

They say that timing is everything, and this definitely holds true for the founding of a business. Market conditions and the economy are just a couple of the issues entrepreneurs need to study carefully before throwing their hats in the ring. On the flip side of the coin, if you spend too much time examining economic and market indicators you’re certain to find compelling reasons to justify never taking the training wheels off the business plan.

Rewind to the summer of 1996. Bill Clinton and Bob Dole are battling it out, the Unabomber just got nailed, and some disturbing economic numbers are floating around. From March of 1995 to March of ‘96, 325,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs disappeared according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and fifty percent of major U.S. companies trimmed their payrolls in the 12 months ending in June of ’95. Not an auspicious time to launch a new business, especially in the snowboard game where the prevailing winds are focused on the glut of hardgoods flooding the industry.

However, the folks at Forum, with a damn the torpedoes mentality, felt the summer of ‘96 was the perfect time to launch their new brand, and they were ultimately proved to be correct. Transworld Business recently caught up with Peter Line and Steve Ruff, two of Forum’s founding fathers to get their thoughts on launching and growing a company during difficult economic times.

Transworld Business:
Can you tell me a little about the history behind the brand’s launch?

Peter Line:
I believe the first talks came between Gregg Dileo and Raul Reis. I’m not sure, but Mack Dawg could have come to them first, but anyway. Gregg was the president of Division 23, the snowboard sponsor I had at the time, and Raul was one of the owners of Special Blend and Foursquare Clothing (who I also rode for). So with those two and Mack Dawg, who made the biggest videos at the time, they brought me on board to head up the team. We all pretty much had the same vision for the brand; a rider based/skate influenced company with a cutting edge team whose focus was to film video parts that were at the forefront of progressive snowboarding.

Steve Ruff (Former Forum Global Team Director):
Raul, Dawger, and Peter approached me. They sat me down and explained how they were going start this company that was going to be based on the riders, team, and videos, but really concentrate on taking care of the riders and letting them help in making all or at least most decisions in the company’s direction and look. The fact that taking care of the riders was going to be the main priority, this sounded very attractive to me. I had been a so-called “Cali-pro” and saw how certain companies were taking advantage of the riders. This was going to be different. We were going to have personal trainers, nutritionists, and do all we could to keep the team at tiptop shape. Although many of the companies around today were started on similar beliefs, this was going to be something very different.

Although Burton bought the brand in 2004, Line remains strongly involved in Forum’s operations. He also reamins strongly endowed with mad ups as he demonstrates at the 2007 Abominal Snowjam.
Photo: Christy Chaloux

TW:
What was going on in ‘96 that made this seem like the right time for you to launch Forum?

PL:
We knew it wasn’t the optimal time to start another Snowboard brand, the industry was becoming over-saturated and smaller companies were going out of business left and right, but we felt we had the right formula to actually pull it off. We felt keeping the brand very video and rider driven was the key. Dawger and I chose smaller name riders at the time who we saw had what it took to be a top name pro and pushed them using the Mack Dawg videos as the main promotional tool. It’s good to see that the guys from the original line up are all big name pros, still killing it.

TW:
1996 was considered a time of mild recession due to a number of causes. Was this a factor in your decisions?

PL:
It definitely came up as a concern in the first few meetings, but we felt there was still a considerable market for the brand. So we didn’t really dwell on it for long and just focused on the positive and the future.

SR:
I truly don’t believe the state of the economy had too much to do with the timing and launch of Forum. It probably should have to be honest, but once the vision and crew were in place, it looked great. We had most the elements in place and a game plan to create our own niche in the marketplace. We knew kids would recognize it and be drawn to it if we could make it something special, something that was different from what the marketplace already had. On top of it all we had Dawger with his videos and then what I consider the weapon of mass destruction at the time: Peter Line!

TW:
On the flip side, did the timing of the launch create any opportunities?

PL:
It did get a lot of hype for starting when it did. Everyone thought it was a bad idea, that was until it actually hit and everybody saw what we were doing.

TW:
What advice do you have for people thinking about launching a company or expanding their operations right now when the news makes it sound like soup lines are going to fire up tomorrow?

PL:
Start a soup company.

SR:
You can’t predict the future, and you can only make decisions based on the information you have. Our industry was built on people with visions that were willing to take chances. I highly doubt Jake Burton knew his company would be the size it is today when he started making boards out of his garage. What I do believe, is that he had a passion, followed his dreams and ran with the opportunity that was put in front of him. I say if you have something you really believe in and you have a way to make it happen DO IT!

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