In Other News: Timberland’s Customer-Driven Reboot

Timberland, the outdoor brand best known for its tan boots, is in the midst of a turnaround after years of flat sales. Stewart Whitney (who was named brand president last October) and other company executives spoke to the Washington Post about its “reboot,” driven in part by a two-year study of customer data.

The company used information from about 18,000 customers in eight countries to help identify its ideal customer, which the Post calls “an urban dweller with a casual interest in the outdoors,” or what Timberland calls an “outdoor lifestyler.” That revelation led to a shift in Timberland’s design and marketing toward fashion and style.

“They’re definitely connected to the outdoors, but in a more casual, everyday way,” Timberland’s VP of global marketing Jim Davey told the Post. “They care about the outdoors, but they also care about style. It was really important to them to look right for the occasion.”