Blackroll founder: An interview with Marius Keckeisen – “For me, there’s no life without windsurfing”

​Everyone knows Blackrolls, the black plastic rolls for recovery after exercise. From the simplen Idee has since become a global brand, playing a key role led by Marius Keckeisen. Why does windsurfing still hold such appeal for the former DWC rider? is a means of livelihood And Marius told us at the Surf Festival why he once handed over his savings book to Shaper Günther Lorch.

You’re from Lake Constance – did you learn to surf there as well?

I’d say it all started at Lake Como in Italy, on a camping holiday with my dad. Conditions at Lake Constance are always a bit up and down; there’s never really a consistent learning environment – either there’s not enough wind or it’s really choppy.

How did you get from there to the wave?

We were on holiday in Mauritius, and that’s where I saw proper waves for the first time. My parents told me I even talked in my sleep about how amazing the waves were. I went straight out, but the board kept spinning round and round. I went over to the locals and said, “Hey, I want to do bottom turns like you guys, but I can’t get the hang of it!” They just laughed and pointed at my board – I had a double strap at the back because I’d only ever been messing about on the lake before. But then things actually started to click.

Did you take part in regattas right from the start as well?

I was approached at the lake and asked if I fancied taking part in some competitions; at the time, an international Lake Constance championship had just been launched. I went along, but turned up with completely the wrong kit: a 140-litre funboard and a 6.5 sail – that was the biggest kit we had. But it was a raceboard regatta, and they set off as soon as a wind direction became apparent. That was a bit of a downer at first – I was standing there at the buoy with my 6.5 and ended up capsizing. But that was the first regatta; later on, things really took off with the German Windsurfing Cup and the Eurocup – which still existed back then. And to make the journey from southern Germany to the contests worthwhile, I ended up competing in all the disciplines straight away.

What was the highlight of your DWC career?

In my first season, I was named Rookie of the Year. I also won the junior classification at the Eurocup on Sylt once. I reckon those were the highlights (laughs). I even managed to win a race once – Flessner was furious because he thought there wasn’t enough wind.

Did you ever have ambitions to compete in the World Cup as well?

No, at one point I was quite frustrated. I’d always drive ten or twelve hours up north to the events, and then there’d be slalom races at the lower wind limit and they’d constantly be called off. It was a huge effort, and I eventually realised that competitive surfing and regattas no longer made sense for me. Shortly afterwards, I flew to Hawaii for the first time and started producing photos and travel stories there with Peter Garzke. I then focused on that, which immediately led to much better sponsorship deals.

As a Lake Constance local, you’ve been riding Lorch boards for ages…

That’s right, I got to know Günther quite early on, when I first got into funboarding. He’d sometimes give me boards to try out. When he and Burkhard Küchler went on to set up the brand, I went along, put my savings book on the table and said, ‘I want to keep riding DWC – how do we make that work?’ And then I rode Lorch for quite a long time.

"I placed my savings book on the table in front of Günther Lorch."

Were you studying at the same time?

During the regatta season, I was still training to be a wholesale and retail sales assistant. It was quite easy to juggle the two, as I could always make up for my trips by working overtime. And then I went on to university and used the semester breaks or took a semester off to work on my travel projects. I always tried to manage three months on Oahu and three months in Cape Town. It was a brilliant time, but eventually I reached a point where I had to decide whether to continue with sport or start my career. That’s when I decided that business was the priority for now. My goal was always the same: to work hard for a short while and then have plenty of time for windsurfing again.

So how did you end up joining Blackroll?

My business partner, Jürgen Dürr, developed the roller after he realised that the German national team – under Klinsmann at the time – was using similar rollers from the USA. The concept was brilliant, but the product back then was rubbish. He then revamped it – a smaller product, made from different materials – and ran his own business for five years. At the time, I was working in marketing at Holidaycheck, and once the learning curve had levelled off, I set up my own business as a marketing and social media consultant – with the agreement that I’d continue to handle TV productions and media buying for Holidaycheck. That was, of course, the jackpot for me: I had a good contract for half the year, no family, no running costs. We focused on social media; back then, Facebook was just taking off. Among other things, we advised Chiemsee and ran sticker campaigns at the World Cup on Sylt, ‘Travel Love Stories’, pasta-cooking sessions with Marco Lufen in Podersdorf and so on – it caused quite a stir. Another part of it was Blackroll. We had our first stand at ISPO back then – it was barely a metre big – and in the evenings we’d secretly hang the rollers from the ceiling. Half a year later, we officially set up the company.

In other words, there was this product called Blackroll, and you promoted it and made it a big hit.

That’s right, Jürgen is the official founder and developed the product. As CEO, I co-founded the company and then laid the groundwork for us to grow. I hired the first staff, installed the first printer, and so on.

You have around 130 staff members today. Would you ever have thought back then that it would grow to be this big?

No, that wasn’t the aim either. From the very start, the approach was to build a business that operated 100 per cent remotely. I gave our first employee an IP phone and told her, ‘You can work from home for three days.’ Back then, we had a small detached house; I lived in the attic and downstairs we had two floors of office space. That was our limit – we didn’t want it to get any bigger. Because with growth always come growing pains, and the responsibility just keeps getting bigger. But sometimes a trend emerges that you naturally have to capitalise on. And then you’re faced with the question: can I keep it small? Or do I actually have to ride the wave and be there at the start to meet the demand? Otherwise, a competitor will come along and snatch that market position away from you.

How do you decide today whether to jump on a wave?

I’ve now built up a network of doctors, therapists, sports trainers, coaches and business professionals who know their way around the industry. And for me, the most important thing is to draw on this network in different ways. How can I use a product, what impact will it have, will it help anyone? That’s how I try to gather different pieces of information from different people and experts and then piece them together to form a bigger picture. Is this a relevant component of holistic health? Can we market it in such a way that there’s a target audience that will buy it, or are we simply wasting resources and money on a product that, although good, nobody will buy? And then sometimes it simply takes the courage to put an idea into practice.

Over the years, have you had a favourite product or project that really stands out?

My favourite project is actually always the one I’m currently working on. I see this company as a journey, like growing up, with lots of change. We started out very specialised in this area; back then, the importance of fascia was only just being recognised and researched. Naturally, this provided some great stories, and we had a product where you could explain relatively quickly how it could benefit you. Nevertheless, it isn’t the solution on its own; you also need exercise, prevention and the basics. Our products have evolved from there. A good example is our partnership with the DFB: we’d applied to be the official supplier of all small fitness and physio equipment and were told that an American manufacturer was looking to muscle in. So we bought up a motley collection of all the good products and put our logo on them. Jürgen then drove over the day before a container was due to be packed for the training camp and delivered the goods. Three weeks later, we were partners and had to set up the whole training range, source the products, design the packaging and so on within three months.

“What makes me most proud is seeing athletes whom our products have helped to make a comeback.”

Does it make you proud when you spot the Blackroll logo on the national team’s kit or something like that?

Establishing a brand’s presence in such a highly competitive field as football is certainly one thing. But what makes me most proud is seeing athletes who’ve really struggled and whom our products have helped to make a comeback. In the early days, some fascia researchers referred people to our website because that’s where the scientific aspects were best explained. Having created a brand that manages to bridge the gap from fun sport to medical credibility and scientific relevance – that’s actually what makes me most proud.

As a windsurfer, was the connection to fun sports particularly important to you?

Yes, absolutely. It’s my greatest passion; for me, there’s no life without windsurfing. My wife once said that for her it was a very conscious decision as to whether she could cope with it or not. Even though I now look back on things with a bit more experience – at what really matters in life and the role that recovery plays – windsurfing is an extremely important part of my life. Spending a few months in Cape Town every year, getting out on the water regularly, and clearing my head is absolutely vital for me to maintain my performance in the long term. That’s why I’ve always had a connection to recreational windsurfing, and of course there are lots of friends who still compete and whom you bump into somewhere by the water. Whether it’s a kids’ camp run by Dennis Müller or the German Freestyle Battles, it’s just cool that the lads are organising things like that; we’re always happy to provide prizes for them, even if it doesn’t get any media coverage. When it comes to the athletes, we also focus a lot on young talents whose mindset and personality fit with the brand – people who have a story to tell and stand for something. Giving something back to the sport is really important to me.

Is Cape Town your go-to place, your home spot?

Yes, definitely. I can give winter a miss, get out on the water regularly and work from there without any time difference. Our daughter goes to school there, and I work full-time. We’re essentially moving the centre of our lives to a place where we can balance it all better.

"My ideal scenario is that the organisation doesn’t need me at all."

Where do you see the future for yourself and the company?

The company is growing, and the aim is to build an organisation that can be scaled without me or anyone else becoming the bottleneck. My job has always been to delegate the tasks that land on my desk. I’m not the type to let my ego get in the way; I don’t need to be CEO. My focus is always on finding the best possible person for the job and hiring them – not on feeling that I’m somehow important myself. On the contrary, my ideal scenario is that the organisation doesn’t need me at all. That’s the ultimate goal, and we’ll see if we can get there. I recently stepped down from the CEO role and brought Scott Zalaznik on board; he spent six and a half years as Head of Digital at Adidas. When it comes to expertise, scaling and internationalisation, I’m focusing more on innovation myself. But even there, we’ve just hired someone else to put that into practice. We’re always asking ourselves: where’s the impact? What can we change? What training and knowledge do we need to achieve that? And the product is really just the anchor that connects with people’s lives.

One last question for the marketing expert and innovator in you. What’s your latest product that you reckon is going to be a big hit?

As a company, we come from the active recovery sector, so on the other hand, passive recovery – that is, sleep – represents a major step for us. Integrating sleep as what is actually the most important recovery tool, and also extending our company’s credibility to this area, is an absolute game-changer. We’ve looked into how to improve sleep and are trying to create products based on that. Much of it is psychological, but one very important factor is keeping your sleep hygiene as consistent as possible. To that end, we’ve developed a pillow that you can take with you wherever you go. The next area is temperature regulation, which is incredibly important for sleep. Most people sleep under their grandmother’s duvet. We make very thin duvets that are thermoregulatory. We’ll soon be launching a mattress topper that regulates the temperature and can provide heating via an app connection. We’re also currently focusing on digital prevention courses, which are covered by health insurance, to encourage people to get active. We also offer psychological coaching for sleep problems; we’ll guide you towards sleeping better. Our next big goal is to build a proper platform that enables daily interaction with our customers.

Thank you very much, and good luck!