Timberland Partners with R/GA to Launch Immersive Experience TimbsTrails

Launching today, R/GA Australia and Timberland in collaboration with plai are proud to present TimbsTrails, an immersive digital experience that invites Timberland fans on a captivating journey through the brand's past, present, and future. TimbsTrails will allow fans to relive the most significant moments of Timberland’s history through five unique brand-defining chapters. 

TimbsTrails shines a light on the authentic products that have defined the Timberland brand – from the original yellow boots to the progressive, eco-innovative styles of today and tomorrow. 

It wasn’t just Timberland’s cultural impact that inspired TimbsTrails’ design and aesthetic, but its brand expression itself. R/GA translated the angular forms of Timberland’s logo into the design system, user interface and maze-like architecture of the experience, helping to evolve an iconic brand into a connected brand. 

"Timbs have played such a massive part in pop culture over so many decades.", said Michael Titshall VP, managing director R/GA Australia. "It was a real privilege to create a brand experience that enabled the next generation to interact with Timberland's past while connecting them to its spirit of innovation and sustainability." 

“Our brand fans have been a driving force in making Timberland the icon it is today, and we’re incredibly excited about the experiential journey we’ve created for them. TimbsTrails provides a unique and entertaining platform to celebrate the footwear innovations and cultural moments that shaped our past, and explore our shared path forward. We’re always looking for new ways to engage our consumers, and TimbsTrails does that across the spectrum -- from a gamified digital experience right into our retail stores” said Drieke Leenknegt, vice president, global marketing. 

The TimbsTrails adventure lets players collect boot badges as they journey through the first five chapters to ‘unlock’ the final chapter and step into the future. The immersive experience allows players to explore over 15 uniquely-themed environments, each crafted with details true to their time and place. The journey starts with the original Timberland factory in New England and travels to Tokyo's Harajuku district, London's rave scene, and the exact piazza where the Italian Paninaro movement started. Players who complete the journey will be eligible to win Timberland boots and other prizes. 

"While influenced by gaming, we wanted to create a unique brand experience, and TimbsTrails is more like an explorable documentary that you can navigate and play", said Seamus Higgins VP, chief creative officer APAC. "Knowing our target market are adventurers at heart and navigating their worlds through their devices, we knew we had to create something that was engaging and entertaining enough on mobile to entice them to explore it.” 

Chris Etches, founder of Plai, states: “TimbsTrails is by far one of the most ambitious and feature-filled Unity WebGL cross platform projects to date, and pushes the boundaries of what is possible through a web game.” 

The TimbsTrails experience is coming to life both online, and in Timberland retail stores across the globe, creating a link between the virtual and the real world. To explore the TimbsTrails, click here.