Join iconic brands and world-class marketing leaders at Brandweek to unlock powerful insights and impact-driven strategies. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 11–14. Save 50% with early-bird passes.
Every brand is tempted to create its own version of Timberland’s new tagline, “This Is Not a Boot.” Whether that lives on a billboard ad or in a brand purpose statement from their CMO, marketers want to convince consumers that purchasing their product represents an ethos that cannot be confined to consumerism.
By connecting the 50th anniversaries of hip-hop and the shoe that has been a fixture of New York City streetwear, Timberland avoids “This Is Not a Boot” coming off as a corporate cliche.
To commemorate five decades since launching the original yellow boot, the brand is paying homage to the communities that brought it into the mainstream while recognizing how the shoe has cropped up in various cultural contexts. The concept is inspired by This Is Not a Pipe, the 1929 painting that encourages its audience to reject literal artistic interpretations.
Specifically, the campaign stands up against the tendency of people and brands with large platforms to steal fashion and pop culture from Black communities, a trend that’s only been magnified by social media, where creators lift dances and beauty routines and market them as their own.
An upcoming Timberland docuseries, also dubbed “This Is Not a Boot,” will recognize diverse product adaptations while acknowledging where all the boot buzz actually began.
And through sending senior footwear designer Chris Dixon leading community design workshops for Black and brown students, sparking social media debate on how to properly tie the shoe and partnering with BIPOC designers to introduce the Royalty boot honoring music history, Timberland shows that popularizing a fashion staple on a global scale should not be a thankless task.
“We’re honoring our history by giving back to the communities that popularized Timberland, while inviting future generations to participate,” said Timberland CMO Drieke Leenknegt. “Personalization is what the consumer wants and what matters to us.”
Catalyzing customization
Oved Valadez, co-founder and creative director at creative agency Industry, worked with Timberland to craft its new branding, “Built for the Bold.”
Instead of reserving the title of “bold” for those who are loud and flashy, the campaign stresses how a simple creative concept can foster decades of consumer chatter and cross-cultural interpretations of the same product.