Gen-Z Media Opps: Timberland taps new marketing lead amid significant spend increase (Score 65)

Susie Mulder joined shoe brand Timberland as global brand president, effective April 5. Since Mulder will report directly to the chairman, president and CEO of parent company VF, she will fill Timberland's CMO-level role. She will initially focus on driving Timberland's digital-first approach. Mulder joins from NIC+ZOE, where she was CEO for nearly a decade. This marketing hire signals that the brand's focus on advertising efforts is continuing to rise, so spend will likely also rise under her leadership.

Additionally, Timberland appointed associate consumer experience marketing manager Rolyn Freeman in February 2021.

According to Pathmatics, the brand has allocated roughly $376.2k toward digital ads so far this year, more than 6x the roughly $68.5k it allocated within the same 2020 timeframe. Timberland's estimated full-year 2020 spend rose by 43% to $3.3m from that of $2.3m in 2019. YTD, the brand has earned ~54.4m digital impressions via Instagram (61%) and Facebook (39%) ads.

As made evident in its sharply increased digital ad spend and reliance on Instagram and Facebook advertising, Timberland's target demographic consists of Gen-Z right now. Kantar data reports Timberland also invests in OOH advertising; to reach Gen-Z, it may expand into additional digital channels such as OTT and/or podcast.

Agency & martech readers - Get in touch soon to remain top-of-mind due to this DM shift. To the best of our knowledge, Timberland works with creative AOR Pereira & O'Dell NY, PR AOR Coyne NJ and media agency partner Starcom IL.