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Timberland
Often imitated, Timberland's classic wheat-coloured boot is one of the most recognisable pieces of footwear you can buy. But the brand, which started out with an outdoors-focussed identity, has found itself mainly occupying the High Street in recent years. Paul is determined to restore its place in the outdoor market, as he explains to SGB.
SGB: Timberland's foray into the High Street has been incredibly successful - how did it happen?
PH: The heritage of the brand dates back to 1973, very much as an outdoor brand, which is how it first came into the UK. If you look at our iconic products - the likes of the wheat boot, for instance, which back in the day was very much an après-ski item for a number of people - it rapidly became more of a lifestyle icon.
In terms of the UK and exposure to the consumer, we've earned a much bigger profile versus the investment we've ever made in marketing. Probably back in 2004 to 2006, there was a big boom around the boot business, which really heightened our profile, and perhaps took us away a little bit from the core of the business.
SGB: What is the core of the business, then?
PH: Today, we are structured with three channels of distribution, all very much consumer-focussed. There's what we call our ‘engager business', our more casual-based product, with distribution channels like Jones the Bootmaker and John Lewis. There's the youth business, where you'll see the brand in retail environments such as JD Sports and Schuh. And then there's the outdoor market.
When I first joined the company, roughly three years ago, we were set up very differently as a global business. There had been a move to split the business into three overall units, which led to its own issues and ultimately, 18 months ago it was decided to revert to a more country-based management, allowing us to focus on our internal channels of distribution.
Three years ago, I led our outdoor distribution in Europe, then I was promoted to my current role about 18 months ago. I think it is fair to say that from an outdoor point of view we got off to a false start between 18 months and three years ago, and it has taken us 12 months to redefine how we are going to approach the overall outdoor market.
SGB: What do you mean by that false start?
PH: We redefined the outdoor side of the business and made it very specialty-focussed. While we are very much an outdoor, lifestyle brand, we are never going to compete with the likes of North Face, Arcteryx and Berghaus at the top of the mountain. Realistically we are further down the mountain in terms of our approach. Where we got it wrong, was trying to pitch ourselves straight against those brands.
SGB: What's going to change, going forward?
PH: We have Tony Underwood leading our outdoor distribution channel and have reverted to an employed sales force except in Scotland.
Today we have two distinct product groups and two areas of target consumer. One is the more mature consumer, the outdoor enthusiast, where we already have loyalty, great products and solid retail distribution.
We will be targeting the younger "outdoor athlete" with our brand new collection called Timberland Mountain Athletics (TMA), which is due to be launched this Autumn. This consists of a range of technical multi-activity and trail running footwear and reflects our strong environmental credentials with the launch of ‘green' rubber, (exclusive to us for 12 months) where a percentage of the outsole of each of the shoes in the collection is made from recycled car tyres.
TMA will form a big part of our marketing strategy for the Autumn, backed with a full above the line campaign that includes press, TV and online activity.
TMA represents an exciting move forward and we are doing it hand-in-hand with mainstream products. Customers will have the opportunity to purchase some of the core performance items, equally it could include the six-inch classic boot, which in the past has had selective distribution.
We recognise that we have iconic products in the collection and we want to give outdoor consumers the opportunity to purchase them alongside the performance product. We will focus on resort locations such as the Lake District where we'll have 12 new stockists by the Autumn.
SGB: Has your core outdoor customer changed? Technical products are now accepted more broadly, the fleece is ubiquitous on British streets... It's only the most technical products that are exclusively for the outdoors consumer now.
PH: We are fortunate in that our end customer has always been part of that wider audience from an outdoor perspective. They probably haven't been the people right at the top of the mountain. That's really where we are coming from...from an outdoor adventure point of view. From a TMA point of view we see the range being accepted by a much younger outdoor consumer.
SGB: So would TMA be aimed at the trail runner and the crossover athlete?
PH: The way we were looking at this a few years ago when we were putting this collection together, was the rise of the 'Millennial consumer'. A lot of it was built more around urban sport. While we talk about trail, there is a link to that and no doubt further down the line as we extend this collection we will be looking in that way.
SGB: What is the core of the TMA range? What about apparel?
PH: The way we approach everything is as a ‘footwear first' company and we have a brand diamond where each and every product has to touch one part of that diamond to fit. The product is about quality, it's about innovation and in some form there has to be an environmentally-friendly aspect to it as well. We start with footwear first, but from the apparel perspective the way we are set now is that the US have their own licensing agreement with apparel.
Everything that is sold or distributed outside of the US is designed in London. They took the more outdoor-performance-type products back about 18 months ago and as we move forward there will most certainly be an apparel collection to sit alongside TMA.
It's not going to mean a change in the general Timberland apparel in the UK...we already have the Outdoor Adventure range which sits very nicely with the outdoor-specific footwear that we have today, and we have had very very good response to it for the sell-in for Autumn ‘09.
SGB: What are the standout products for TMA?
PH: In the Mountain Athletics line the standout would be a couple of products - The All-Mountain Inferno, which is a Gore-Tex® product, and the Route Racer which will be featured in the TV advertisement. Both are very noticeable in terms of the bright colours that we are using.
SGB: How are you going to reach retailers and educate them about your 'return' to the outdoor market?
PH: When you look at the spend that we are making in terms of the TV campaign, its outdoor-related, so it is a heavy move away from where we have been. Starting in Autumn ‘08 we launched a TV campaign that was very much outdoor-related and we have continued that through into this Spring, when we launched a 'Boat Shoe' advertisement starting in March.
We will be using Mountain Athletics in our Autumn campaign and there is a very hefty investment to support that. One of the other positive moves we have made that we have not done previously is that we have split our PR. We operate with a London company, Cube, who look after our Boot co and mainline business, but we operate with outdoor specialists, MCS from an outdoor perspective. That is quite a quantum leap for us, not having done it before. It communicates that we are serious about the outdoor specialty market and that we are placing a much-improved emphasis on what we are trying to do.
SGB: Do these overall changes mean upheaval for your sales team?
PH: Using my 14 years experience in the outdoor business, I am very focussed on ensuring that we build the right team. One of the reasons we changed the structure last year was because I felt we needed individuals who understood the needs and the ways the outdoor specialty market operates. Where we have had people leaving or moving on, we have brought in more multi-functioned salespeople who have a better understanding of the market.
SGB: What about the nuts and bolts for the retailer - what are you doing in terms of POS, merchandising support etc?
PH: We have shop-in-shop systems and our own furniture in the Timberland theme, which is wood-based and very attractive, customers can select from a dedicated furniture catalogue. We have a department in-house that will work with a retailer to design the space correctly and install fixtures and fittings.
We also have a comprehensive package including permanent point of sale kit to support the visual merchandising. We have various consumer incentive programmes as well as shop staff incentive programmes.
SGB: It sounds like the brand has come about face in the last year and a half, with further change this year - but it's all very positive.
PH: It is a big move on for us. We have recognised the fact that we had to put the brakes on in regards to what we had done in the past. We have re-thought it; we feel that we have a good plan in place now. It's a long-term plan, so we're not expecting things to change overnight, but we are committed to it and we feel we are well-placed. We hear a number of the bigger retailers talk about wanting another big brand to come into the marketplace and fill a void. We know that we can become that brand.
The plan we needed to get in place was getting to the right people, who could actually communicate to the outdoor industry because there are some perceptions that we need to change. Some people see Timberland as an urban youth business, when in actual fact it is so much more...
