KAV HELMETS
Building KAV from product innovation into a performance brand.
Five years connecting consumer insight, brand strategy, product positioning, creative direction and go-to-market.
DIRECTOR OF BRAND MARKETING · 2021–2026
01 / FINDING THE OPPORTUNITY
KAV entered cycling with a successful Kickstarter, a finished product and an early hypothesis: personalized fit would be the reason riders switched. I went back to the earliest customers, surveyed Kickstarter backers, led an internal brand workshop and mapped the competitive landscape to understand what had actually created demand—and where KAV could credibly differentiate.
The initial opportunity
Custom fit gave KAV a clear point of difference in a category built around standardized sizes.
Custom fit became the foundation of the first cycling proposition.
02 / WE FIT DIFFERENT.
It was a starting point, not the whole answer.
AS WE MOVED BEYOND EARLY ADOPTERS, CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND MARKET BEHAVIOR MADE ONE THING CLEAR: CUSTOM FIT COULDN’T CARRY THE ENTIRE PROPOSITION.
03 / EXPANDING THE PROPOSITION.
As customer and category learning accumulated, I helped translate it into an expanding product and brand proposition—first broadening aesthetic choice, then extending customization from fit into visual expression.
CUSTOM. NOW IN COLOR.
NOVA — CUSTOM BECOMES VISIBLE
CUSTOM WAS NO LONGER JUST SOMETHING RIDERS COULD FEEL. IT BECAME SOMETHING THEY COULD DESIGN.
Nova extended personalization from fit into visual expression, giving riders control over the appearance of their helmet through a digital customizer. It also became KAV’s first Virginia Tech 5-Star rated helmet, adding independent safety credibility to the proposition.
Nova represented by Team USA athletes at the UCI Gravel World Championships.
KAV was gaining credibility in performance cycling. But visibility wasn’t the same as differentiation.
04 / CREATING A REASON TO SWITCH
Fit made KAV different, but serious riders already had trusted performance helmets to choose from. I pushed the proposition toward something the category actively valued and KAV could credibly prove: measurable performance.
RHOAN: BENCHMARK AERO. AIRFLOW YOU CAN FEEL.
KAV’s first helmet developed around an explicit performance proposition, pairing wind-tunnel-tested aerodynamics with airflow and thermal management while retaining the custom-fit foundation.
THE MARKET RESPONDED:
Within two months of launch, monthly helmet unit volume increased 2.4×, with Rhoan accounting for 71% of helmet units sold.
05 / EXPANDING THE OPPORTUNITY.
Rhoan strengthened KAV’s premium performance proposition, but the market opportunity pointed to a larger constraint: the $300+ custom model addressed a relatively narrow segment and limited how the product could be distributed. I identified an opportunity to translate what we’d learned about fit and performance into a $200, standard-sized product built for broader adoption and multi-channel distribution.
PERFORMANCE WITHOUT THE BULK.
Thousands of individual fits gave KAV a deeper understanding of head shape. Silvo translated that insight into three optimized sizes and a lower-profile design—bringing better fit to a broader market without the custom process.
A BROADER ENTRY POINT.
50%+
OF KAV HELMET UNITS SOLD WITHIN THREE MONTHS OF LAUNCH
Silvo’s early adoption validated demand for a more accessible expression of KAV’s fit and performance proposition.