Timberland Brings the Outdoors In-Store

"Is it purposeful? Is it enduring? Is it of the outdoors? Is it authentic?"Bevan Bloemendaal and David Curtis are questioning a new piece of ceramic tile in a conference room at The Timberland Co.'s Stratham, NH, headquarters. Although the new material is practically a dead ringer for the difficult-to-manage patinaed metal that the company currently uses in its creative, the Timberland merchandising team will need to ensure that this tile candidate aligns with the core values of Timberland as stated in the company's positioning statement.Outdoor apparel and boot giant Timberland has an in-house agency, Global Creative Services (GCS), responsible for all of the planning and design that a brand would normally outsource, and then some. On the P-O-P end, the team develops massive metal and wood concept shops down to floor mats, counter displays, corrugated standees and shoe tags, and ensures that all components meet the company's core message.Bringing design management close to home was a natural progression for Timberland. Despite its ever-growing line expansions and international appeal, the company remains steadfast in the same message of reliability, quality and homegrown humility that it projected with its original, iconic yellow boot. Under Senior Director Bloemendaal's leadership, the 5-year-old department develops all creative going into Timberland brand stores, and its authorized retailers, around the globe. The company currently reaches a variety of markets internationally, including Argentina, Egypt, Japan and the Russian Federation. Timberland products are also sold in retailers such as Foot Locker, Underground Station, City Sports and Man Alive as well as upscale department stores such as Nordstrom and Marshall Field's."I think there is a richness to having this group of individuals who live and breathe the brand on a daily basis," says Bloemendaal. "They have a regularity about them, an understanding of what it means."HomegrownBloemendaal's management team comprises six department heads. David Curtis, senior manager, supervises the environments group, overseeing construction of all of the company's in-store fixtures. Amy Tauchert, senior manager, manages visual merchandising, setting the merchandising standard for every new season. Victoria Dimou, creative director, oversees all 2-D art-and-copy marketing materials. Stephen King, senior manager, manages corporate events. Andrew Dawson, senior manager, supervises the department's project management staff.Dimou was one of only a handful of Timberland employees originally tapped for an in-house agency in the mid-1990s. The department expanded, more or less organically, until the official development of Global Creative Services."I think that what happened is, once you have a bit of an in-house [agency], a very small bit, there's a recognition in the company of the value that's there, and that they can draw upon, and [the department's scope] grows," she says. "It's very easy for people to come to us and get what they need. We know. We're part of the company."It is a justified claim. Combined, the team members' experience at Timberland exceeds 50 years (two-thirds of them were around when Timberland was named one of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies To Work For" in 1998). So they are all well-versed in Timberland history.Now a $1.5 billion global footwear, apparel and accessories brand, Timberland began in 1918 with founder Nathan Swartz, who began his career as an apprentice stitcher crafting handmade boots. He purchased half an interest in The Abington Shoe Co. in 1952, and in 1958 he bought the remaining interest and brought his sons on board.In the '60s, the Swartz family's fortune changed with their production of one of the first truly waterproof leather boots. It was their use of injection molding to fuse the soles to the leather uppers without stitching that allowed them to make this claim. Their original boot model was called "Timberland," and building on the popularity of this product, they became "The Timberland Co." in 1973.Jeffrey Swartz, president and CEO, now leads Timberland into its third generation. His father, Sidney Swartz, still serves as chairman. The company's products range from its PRO series of professional work boots to kids' footwear and watches. Its core messages, however, remain the same."We have this Yankee sensibility and mentality of craftsmanship and quality," says Bloemendaal. "I would say we are a brand of substance." GCS works to visually maintain that personality wherever Timberland products appear."It's back to the positioning statement, you know," says Dimou. "What is Timberland's positioning statement, and how can we fulfill that through design?" P-O-S as StorytellingThough today you're as likely to see the wearers of Timberland boots navigating between record stores in Manhattan as you are to see them laying brick, it's important to Timberland that even lifestyle customers understand the engineering behind their gear."There's this story," Bloemendaal recounts, "of Sidney Swartz going into one of our Timberland retail stores, and somebody's buying a leather jacket, and [Swartz] asks, 'Why are you buying that jacket?' and the guy answers, 'Because it looks great,' and Sidney says, 'No, why are you buying that jacket?' And Sidney literally took a bottle of water and threw water all over the jacket and said, 'Now that's why you should be buying this jacket.' "Swartz's theatrics spawned a buzz-generating interactive promotion. Teams of service reps toured the country in the early '90s, wearing leather jackets while standing in buckets outside Timberland stores, inviting passers-by to toss their sodas, coffees, or other beverages at the jackets just to see how much the leather could take. More recently, to promote its Smart Comfort technology products, the department sent representatives to perform a simple demonstration that involved tracing a customer's shoeless foot while he or she sat, and then again while the customer stood, to show how the foot changes size and shape under different stresses.It's not always possible to have a sales rep on hand to explain shoe technology, however, so GCS makes a point to educate customers through P-O-P."We do a lot of wonderful storytelling at the P-O-S level," says Bloemendaal. "It's most important in our [external] accounts. It is visual. A lot of times, they're not going to give up space for a sign, because it will take up the space of a shoe, so we do varying degrees of things like shoe clips, shelf-talkers, hang-tags on the products, because we know how important that real estate is. We want to get that message out there."The underlying message of craftsmanship even filters into the way the GCS team chooses their construction materials. Curtis points out the signature yellow-orange leather that is integrated into most of his group's permanent fixtures. Not only is it the same color as the lining on the inside of the Timberland yellow boot -- it is the exact same soft, quality leather that lines the iconic product."I think materials play a big part in helping people understand us as a brand, organic and natural, integrity, authenticity," Bloemendaal says. "Even the way our imagery is photographed, how it is produced, has a great tacked-out feel, a grittiness and a coarseness of authenticity."In the future, Bloemendaal says, his team is working toward extending that message of quality to the shoe as an entity. "Lately, we've been trying to integrate more into not only the leather, but the ethos of quality of the shoe, not just the components of the shoe," he says. "Everybody has a brown shoe, so what's better, special or different about ours? The leather, the Gore-Tex, and all of these attributes that are, a lot of times, hidden and unknown to the consumer. You've got to basically be able to tell the story so that you can differentiate in the marketplace."Home Away From HomeGCS is all about making sure that Timberland products look just as comfortable in Journeys or Nordstrom as they would in their own brand store. If that means a customized display, they are open-minded, as long as the brand identity remains the same. But Bloemendaal is careful to note that customization is not led by the accounts. He will always listen, he says, but the proposed ideas must fall in line with the core Timberland message."In either case, it is a partnership, 100%," says Curtis. "It runs the gamut, from some customization, to total customization where Victoria has to do a photo shoot for just a particular account to create a graphic. We do develop merchandising standards for a wide range of environments and spaces that are available."While his department loves to see the products displayed on the traditional large Timberland spreads, Bloemendaal notes, "Our core challenge to that is to make sure that at the lowest common denominator, you still feel that same sense even if it's a little branding block on the table." He mentions the orange leather, the Timberland logo, and the signature four rows of stitching that define the P-O-P. "You should, by seeing it or touching it, get a sense of who we are as a brand."Following a tour through the Timberland concept shop, where new displays are set up for viewing in a store-like environment under the full weight of the product, Curtis explains that he aims to create modular in-store systems so that "when we only do have four feet of wall space, those elements can be reconfigured to give you the same emotional attachment to the brand on a much smaller scale. So it's an la carte fixturing and P-O-P opportunity."Since proper set-up and merchandising are so important to the final outcome, Timberland directly oversees or performs the installation of most of its units. If Timberland does not hire an outside installation crew, the account executives and field representatives who regularly service Timberland accounts will ensure that displays are properly set up, sometimes doing the installation themselves in the case of smaller P-O-P. GCS works hard to create clear instructions with photographs to explain how the displays are to be merchandised once they are in place. "We do a lot of work on the front end to provide educational tools, whether it's merchandising sheets or layouts, so that when they crack open the box, they have their guide right there," Curtis says.Even with all of these stop-gaps in place, the displays are engineered to ensure easy installation. "Some of these fixtures look like they're huge, but they're not," says Bloemendaal. "Even our apparel shops are literally built out of two-foot sections it just so happens that we put them side by side. We work diligently to make sure that the fixtures we have are a kit of parts, basically, and can be put up by any of us."Curtis' department also ensures that the displays arrive looking pristine through extensive ship- and drop-testing. "Nothing goes into the field without being prototyped and tested, sometimes three times," he says. "Even if it's a 250-pound fixture we'll pick it up on a pallet, strap it to the pallet and drop it to make sure that it is packaged appropriately to minimize damage."10 Words or LessLast year, GCS delivered 6,549 merchandising job components, and Dawson says the department is on track to exceed that number this year. This is no small task for a group that boasts only 30 full-time employees.Although GCS uses freelancers frequently to produce art and copy, fixtures and events, every project manager is handling between 15 to 35 projects, in varying stages of progress, at any given time. As manager of project management, Dawson designed a comprehensive online system for tracking the department's display projects from initiation to completion.The system, created with FileMaker Pro software, allows clients to log in and manage their briefs quickly whether they are based down the hall in the company headquarters, or at a retailer in Tokyo. To begin, a client opens a new brief and chooses a project type from a list of options ranging from a custom shopping bag to an annual report. The system automatically generates an expected completion date for the project.In addition to answering a series of other standard questions, including a definition of the project's target audience, features and benefits, and competition, the client is asked to state a key objective for the project in 10 words or less."If you can't tell me in 10 words or less what your project is all about, then you don't know enough about your project," says Dawson. The majority of requests come from the Timberland sales and marketing departments, but the group increasingly handles requests from external retailers. Keeping it simple allows the online system to get the request across effectively even when clients never meet with GCS in person.GCS department heads can log in and see the new requests as soon as they are completed. Dawson and Bloemendaal meet with the appropriate department heads to review almost every new project and assign the creative and project management staff, who then move into a concept meeting with the client. "It's a carefully choreographed process for us," says Curtis. Vendors produce, package, label and fulfill projects, but internal project managers in the environments group take responsibility for the details, he explains, "down to the level of, 'I need an elevator at Macy's at one o'clock.'"Not Just Another Tree-HuggerAlthough they are listed in Timberland's positioning statement, "Commitment to the Outdoors" and "Commitment to Social Justice" are not just concepts for brand imaging. The company as a whole has an active community service program, offering employees paid time off and sabbaticals for social service, in addition to providing family-friendly benefits such as on-site childcare and environmentally-friendly incentives such as preferential parking for carpools and alternative fuel vehicles. For their part, GCS actually works very hard to create displays and fixtures that are environmentally sustainable."We're not perfect by any means, and we don't say that we are," says Bloemendaal. "But we try very hard to ensure that the things that we use are as eco-friendly as we can possibly do it." This mission has a noticeable effect on the designers' choice of materials, including a variety of tree-free papers that Dimou's group incorporates into their work.When fixtures are 100% recyclable, Curtis' team goes one step further to make certain that the displays aren't unwittingly tossed. "We have gone above and beyond," he says of his cleanup team. Through the fixture cleanup system, Curtis supervised recycling of fixtures from 100 stores in New York. "We hired a recycling company to literally go around, pick them all up and go back to their facility to separate the materials to ensure they could dispose of them appropriately."Inside stores, however, customers might not grasp just how deep Timberland's roots of social responsibility run. "It's tricky," says Dimou, "because there are several levels to community involvement." The environmental commitment can be represented fairly clearly through the use of outdoor imagery, the earth-toned brand colors and natural materials. "But saying that we give our people [paid] time off so that they can go and serve within communities and improve them it isn't a quick visual takeaway."That doesn't seem to bother GCS too much, though. "There's definitely a humbleness about how we put it out there," Bloemendaal says. "When people go to the website or hear about it, their reaction is, 'This is fantastic why don't you do more advertising about it?' We just have a quiet way of doing it."But those who want to know, will, and the company's reputation is growing. "It's one of those things that, whenever I mention where I work, more often than not, there is an awareness of it," says Curtis. "It's wonderful to hear that coming back, because it's out there. People are talking about it. People are interested." "It's not only about ourselves, personally, but what's inside our products that's going to provide you the confidence to carry on your personal journey," says Bloemendaal. "Go out and make a difference. That's it."

Timberland Brings the Outdoors In-Store

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