Let’s Roll: Lessons from an Earlier Rollerblade

I recently read an article mentioning that, due to market trends and a bit of magical thinking, “blading” (properly known as inline skating) was making a comeback. Whether it’s from a combination of retro coolness, everything old becoming new again, or a natural alignment with social distancing practices, favorable conditions for a reboot seem to be lining up. 

The effects of the COVID-19 crisis have created pent up demand by skiers/boarders/hockey players as well.  Shorted their traditional season, these winter sports enthusiasts—also some of inline skating's earliest adopters—have taken to strapping on skates in search of a familiar substitute. Traffic-free streets and smooth black asphalt are now beckoning skaters to get out for a roll. At its core is inline skating’s sense of pure fun and the feeling of ultimate freedom it creates. And after being stuck inside, it can be the perfect antidote for cabin fever. 

Yes, there are many reasons to hope that a resurgence is around the corner. But it will never be quite as big, or the growth as explosive, as it was the first time around. As one of Rollerblade’s earliest employees—the 14th or so–I had the ride of a lifetime. I will be forever grateful to have been part of the creation of a global sport, which once peaked at 30 million participants by the mid ‘90s. The making of Rollerblade into a household name was definitely a career highlight for me. 

There are so many lessons learned during those early years that it’s hard to even begin. But for starters, there are three themes that I continue to return to today, 30 years later.

Positioning: What you are, what you’re not 

When I arrived at Rollerblade in the late '80s, the product line was limited to fast wheels, and slow wheels, and were considered hockey training tools. Our audience: hockey players looking for an off-season replacement for expensive ice time. It gradually spread to Nordic skiers who loved the slow, orange wheels of the early Zetra model. 

Our official name was North American Training Company and Rollerblade was a singular product. There are many directions this company could have taken at that time, but thankfully, it chose a path that seems obvious today. Instead of remaining focused on hockey alone, Rollerblade began a series of small shifts into skiing and fitness cross-training that proved promising. What happened next was a master class in repositioning and put the wheels in motion for a much bigger opportunity: Simply put, it went from a tool to a new sport. It also steered clear of what it wasn’t: a roller skate. Rollerblade was a modern skate, with wheels inline (a term we coined to avoid genericizing the Rollerblade brand name) vs. the quad skates used within indoor rinks that at the time were anything but cool. And from there marketing efforts and imagery took on a less serious, more fun persona and sport-building programs such as the International Inline Skating Association and Team Rollerblade were formed. Thanks to talented filmmaker Greg Stump, fearless and artistic skating moves by an eclectic Team Rollerblade, the image of Rollerblade, and the messaging surrounding the sport of inline skating, Rollerblade found just the right balance to begin its meteoric rise. 

Powerful purpose: Yup, it’s all about the why

We all know about the power of purpose-driven brands and how knowing the “why” of a brand is a critical step to its finding relevancy and long-term success. At Rollerblade, we had a very clear mission:  Teach the world to skate. It drove every strategy and every action. Most important, it aligned the team with something bigger than themselves and unified us under a common goal. 

This wasn’t one of those corporate crafted lines developed after the fact. It was more than that: This was a sport that was changing people’s lives, offering a sense of identity and purpose and we were all in. It drove every one of us, and we instinctively knew we were part of something major. This was before the Internet and social media, so we really depended upon word-of-mouth, guerilla-marketing style. It’s hard to imagine creating that much impact without the digital tools we have today. But build it we did, taking this mission to the masses and leveraging our fleet of demo vans, celebrity giveaways (who can forget JFK Jr. skating in NYC?) and the power of PR to tell our story. 

Progress, not perfection: Don’t overthink, be decisive   

Whether you’re in a start-up, steering a turnaround, or riding a rocket ship, progress vs. perfection is a good rule and a practice I continue to preach. Most of us during Rollerblade’s early years were punks (read: young). We were given a lot of responsibility without having a lot of experience to back it up. As a result, it made us work harder. We believed we could, because frankly, no one said we couldn’t. We were fearless—armed with trust, motivation, and a sense of purpose. We made mistakes along the way, but our eyes remained on the prize, and we strove to make more good decisions than bad ones, working another day to do it better, correcting course as needed. Even with much more experience today, I continue to lean into this concept of progress and avoid the trap of seeking perfection—there is always more to learn. Let’s roll.