Timberland launches Europe-wide geocaching project
US outdoor footwear company Timberland has launched a European-wide geocaching experience, the first multi-country campaign of this type in the world, to support the launch of its new Earthkeepers range of footwear.
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity which involves players using GPS coordinates to hide and seek containers, called ‘geocaches’ or ‘caches’, anywhere in the world. The activity was first played in 2000 and there are currently more than 1.3 million active geocaches published various websites.
Timberland’s ‘Trail of Heroes’ geocaching campaign runs across six cities – Paris, London, Milan, Brussels, Berlin and Madrid, from May until June 2011.
The campaign has been devised by brand experience specialist BEcause, which is working with Groundspeak, the location-based technology specialist, to bring the campaign to life.
The ‘Trail of Heroes’ campaign focuses on getting consumers outdoors to find a uniquely designed set of caches that have been strategically placed in each city. Timberland prizes are rewarded to the first consumers to find the caches in each city, with one final grand prize being awarded to an overall European winner.
Following a trial period with selected bloggers from the spheres of fashion, outdoors and the environment throughout April, the campaign went live to the public on 18 May, 2011. A bespoke website www.geocaching.com/trailofheroes has been created collaboratively by BEcause and Groundspeak for the campaign. Here, consumers will be able to register themselves as members of the geocaching community and then log the individual caches that they find.
The ‘Trail of Heroes’ geocaching campaign is a major part of Timberland’s 2011 ‘Nature Needs Heroes’ marketing strategy.
Joss Davidge, business director at BEcause comments: “It’s incredibly exciting for BEcause to be working with Timberland on its first ever geo-caching campaign. I have every confidence that this multi-city experience will engage huge numbers of consumers.”
