In 2019, Timberland launched ‘Nature Needs Heroes’ to support their long-term commitment to using recycled, organic and renewable materials in their product. Their global campaign set out to plant 50 million trees in 5 years and greening urban areas to combat climate change and enrich communities. However, the brand was facing a deep-rooted problem. Their core customers had aged and competitors were weighing in on younger UK audiences with innovative and customisable apparel. So with Black Friday sales ahead and a fraction of their competitors’ budgets, Timberland wanted to make some noise to get young consumers talking about (and wearing) its new Eurosprint Trekker boot.

‘Timberland Presents: Concrete Green with Loyle Carner’ is a two-part mini-series that broadcast on MTV during prime time and on-demand for 2 weeks leading up to Black Friday. It follows Loyle and his crew (sporting head- to-toe Timberland gear) returning back to their roots in South London to visit various National City Parks urban greening projects and plan new green spaces for residents and the wider community funded by Timberland. Loyle meets experts who explain the importance of green spaces in urban environments and the benefits it has on mental health, creativity and community pride. To conclude the journey, Loyle hosted an exclusive live performance with special homegrown talent to officially kick off the redevelopment of Timberland’s legacy community space.

The iconic yellow boot rose to fame in the 90’s on the feet of hip-hop gods like Tupac and Biggie, then Rihanna and Jay Z in the 00’s. Now they had Loyle Carner, the perfect ambassador to bridge their hip-hop heritage and ambition to inspire a global greening movement through a British lens. The Brit-nominated artist came to their attention when he started posting about ‘urban greening’ projects where rundown areas of cities are transformed into green, inspiring spaces. But to get onto the feet of a quintessentially cool younger generation in the UK, this partnership couldn’t be a straightforward celeb endorsement deal. So Timberland committed funding to regenerate two derelict areas in Loyle’s home borough of Croydon

We recognised that an AFP - in the right environment - offered the perfect solution, giving us access to the story-telling-power of TV, lending credibility and authenticity with our audience (without it being another “green washing” exercise), and could guarantee delivery of long-form content with significant viewing figures. We launched 30” TVC promos to promote the documentary during one of the biggest MTV Music events of the year, the MTV Europe Awards, where Loyle’s involvement drove the greatest cut through. We were able to leverage Viacom network’s eco system with promotional airtime, commercial airtime and VOD pre-rolls driving mass reach and appointment to view in the lead up to the programme debut. The two-part mini-series broadcast on MTV during prime time (Monday at 7pm) and was available on-demand. In addition, we ran bespoke social content across MTV, Loyle and Timberland’s social channels, extending the reach of the campaign.

• Sales uplift of 258% for the Eurosprint Trekker, establishing a new product icon for the brand

• Triple digit % growth reported by stores

• 100% sell-through of product in resellers, prompting several re-orders from Timberland’s biggest accounts

• Of those who saw the show:

o 80% said the programme gave a good impression of Timberland

o 79% said that it showed Timberland was concerned about the environment

o 54% of those who had previously not considered Timberland to be ‘sustainable’ or ‘environmentally conscious’ associated these words with the brand after watching the programme

o 76% of people said that the programme changed their opinion of Timberland as a brand and made them more likely to consider Timberland

• Concrete Green, delivered media value nearly 3 times that of the total cost of the show and MTV partnership, with programme content being seen by 5million people