Timbuk2 — Rudi O'Meara

Timbuk2

Challenge /

When my good friend and former eBay client Kevin McSpadden joined Timbuk2 as CMO, he tapped my team to get the brand back on track again. Not that it was that far off track. Things had just gotten a bit stodgy and not so fun, for reasons that, it turned out, had a lot to do with a shift in focus internally. Instead of being keyed into the touchstones of fixie culture (their original hotbed), the company had started taking its cues from the (crunchy, safe) suburbs. Our task: to lead a series of workshops that would yield cutting-edge retail concepts, an adventuresome new product design ethos, and merchandising strategies that could pique the curiosity of restless, urban, design-conscious consumers.

Like me, basically.

Solution /

Like all of my favorite projects, working with Timbuk2 wasn’t really about finding some new, untrodden path to explore. It was about a return to fundamentals—a return to what set the company apart in the first place. In our workshops, my team created an environment where people from throughout the company (from product development to merchandising to operations) could have a hand in refocusing the POV and priorities of the company. The resulting collaboration yielded everything from a whole new approach to material selection and product development, to a new philosophy of color and brand building. It was a return to their local roots that had a hugely positive impact on the bottom line.

Rad.

Stickybits

Yahoo