Ezra Martin spends quite a lot of time as of late fascinated about a yellow boot.
In 1973, Timberland – then referred to as Abington Shoe Firm – debuted its waterproof yellow boots. In 2023, the outside attire and equipment firm will observe the boot’s fiftieth anniversary. And Martin, Timberland’s newly minted vice chairman of promoting, Americas, can be rolling out a brand new advertising and marketing technique for the event.
“It’s not nearly trying up to now,” Martin mentioned. “What does the following 50 years of Timberland appear like?”
Martin joined Timberland from Estée Lauder, the place he held the worldwide VP of promoting function for the Lab Collection males’s skincare model. Beforehand, he’s labored on model voice campaigns, relaunches of dormant classes and go-to-market launch methods at a number of firms, together with footwear titans Nike and Converse.
Martin spoke with AdExchanger.
AdExchanger: What’s your imaginative and prescient for Timberland’s digital advertising and marketing perform?
EZRA MARTIN: For Timberland, digital transformation is a large precedence. With the strains changing into so blurred between bodily, social, digital, even individuals speaking Web3 and metaverse, the purpose is admittedly to satisfy customers the place they’re, to create one seamless expertise. The opposite a part of that imaginative and prescient is with the ability to reward our most loyal customers. We’re engaged on a membership program that can launch subsequent 12 months, and digital will sit on the coronary heart of that.
How do you intend to convey your advertising and marketing message alive inside bodily retailer areas?
As we begin to consider future retailer openings throughout our key cities, in New York, particularly, we’re ensuring that we have now a related expertise. The place it’s not a 50 First Dates-type expertise, the place you’re coming in, you’ve spent cash with the model earlier than, and we nonetheless ask you what your favourite colours are; we nonetheless don’t know that you simply don’t like the colour black.
All these issues that we’ve discovered a few client, the thought of “know me to serve me,” we’ll look to convey into future experiences in-store so we don’t create that have of, “Hey, I’ve been with you guys for thus lengthy, and you continue to don’t know what dimension I’m.” No person likes that kind of expertise. We’ll look to bridge the digital and bodily world collectively.
What do you hope to perform in your first 12 months?
Subsequent 12 months is the fiftieth anniversary of the enduring yellow boot, in order that’s going to obtain an enormous highlight. What I might like to see us do is admittedly elevate that model vitality and hype throughout areas, channels, customers, bringing the worldwide model DNA and function to life. We’ve bought year-long activations within the works, so it’s not simply going to be a one-and-done celebration.
One of many different issues I’m trying to do: In my function, I oversee Timberland and Timberland Professional, the workwear line, so we’re actually working to attach our Timberland and Timberland Professional manufacturers throughout digital and bodily. As a result of our heritage is based on working open air, however we have to be sure that we’re exhibiting up as one Timberland.
How would you describe your channel technique?
Understanding whether or not somebody is buying from our DTC door or a wholesale companion door, whether or not they’re shopping for on-line or through social commerce – and the way they ladder up and inform a coherent story – is the muse of all the things that we’re doing advertising and marketing smart.
Our “Constructed for the Daring” marketing campaign, our new model voice marketing campaign that launched after I had simply joined, was a four-prong technique launched in numerous phases. Our first section was the tease section, beginning in native communities and native cities the place we localized a few of our communications.
What does a localized marketing campaign appear like?
For instance, in New York, we launched within the Bronx outdoors of Yankee Stadium, simply as a tease, with out mentioning something a few [footwear] line. The tease was, “Pinstripes are earned, not given,” a nod to the Yankees being within the Bronx. We had one other one in Bushwick that was “Bushwick will get shit performed.” “Daring seems good on you” we had in Soho as a result of it was extra style impressed, and we launched it throughout Trend Week.
Second section, we adopted that up with saying the road and “Constructed for the Daring.” The third section, we put up the influencers who have been a part of the marketing campaign. After which the fourth section was product: speaking in regards to the merchandise that have been dwelling within that marketing campaign.
That was the channel technique: all the things from digital to out of residence. We introduced again wheatpasting, we introduced again subway [ads] – old-school ways mixed with newer, fashionable advertising and marketing, like paid social.
How do you method marketing campaign measurement?
I’ve at all times felt it’s actually necessary to set your targets firstly of the marketing campaign, as a result of each marketing campaign has a unique intention. Generally it’s incomes income. Generally it’s growing model love and model consciousness. You can be launching a brand new social deal with, and rising followers is among the targets of the marketing campaign. If it’s a digital marketing campaign, having our KPIs in place to measure engagement, shares, follows, conversions (with out gifting away an excessive amount of of our secret sauce) are just about the fundamentals.
How does Timberland’s on-line advertising and marketing technique change throughout the vacation season in This fall?
It doesn’t change as a lot as it’s the method we place our merchandise. I don’t know for those who’d name it a recession, however the previous few years have positively been difficult for lots of causes. What we do is simply hold our give attention to what we are able to provide to customers: premium boots and garments, made responsibly.
In unsure occasions, customers flock to manufacturers that they will rely upon. And that’s the added worth {that a} model like Timberland can provide, as a result of we’ve been round for 50 years.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
