Hall of Fame Profile: Bevan Bloemendaal

When Bevan Bloemendaal was recruited to The Timberland Co. in 1999, it meant leaving the hustle and bustle of New York City and settling down in the more rural, more relaxed town of Stratham, NH. But the transition was easy, thanks to the challenging work and the class of the brand. Hired as the director of visual merchandising, Bloemendaal quickly moved up to senior director of global creative services, a position he has held -- and excelled in -- since 2001. In a nutshell, he is responsible for the brand's retail presence in department stores, specialty stores and Timberland's own retail outlets in more than 90 countries worldwide.But Bloemendaal has done much more than that. In line with the company's emphasis on sustainability, he implemented environmentally sensible manufacturing and production techniques and makes informed choices when picking materials, printing processes and vendors. The brand now includes "nutrition labels" on all of its shoeboxes, letting consumers know what impact the product they are purchasing has on the world, thus holding Timberland accountable for its environmental "footprint" -- no pun intended.Bloemendaal is the last of this year's P-O-P Hall of Fame inductees to be profiled. Renée Richardson of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Ed Trygstad of Miller Brewing Co. were profiled in previous issues. All three were honored in a ceremony held at the In-Store Marketing Summit in April at McDonald's Hamburger University, Oak Brook, IL.How did you get started in merchandising, and how did you get to your current position? It all started with my appreciation for landscaping and floral arrangement, which led to opening a small greenhouse in a very small town in Iowa. I realized the power of presentation and how it impacts all of us in our everyday decision making. I was recruited from New York City to my current position at Timberland. Honestly, I never thought that I would leave New York City, but the richness of storytelling, the authenticity, craftsmanship/quality and values of the brand were all driving forces to move to New Hampshire. I am surrounded by a team of passionate brand champions and storytellers and have the privilege to work with them through art and copy, environments, fixture design and visual merchandising groups.While at Timberland, I have implemented overriding creative guidelines that ensure the brand's integrity and authenticity while helping to reduce overall environment design and costs. I am passionate about creating strong partnerships with third-party resources and a collaborative spirit, working closely with key company departments and corporate colleagues.Have you and your team recently created a display or a merchandising system that you are particularly proud of, or that performed beyond expectations?There are so many to be proud of, here are a couple:Outdoor Performance Booth: This project represents our passion/commitment for doing the right thing and at the same time represents the strength of our outdoor business. The booth was constructed with the goal of getting as close to 100% using recycled, reclaimed and renewable materials as possible -- we completed the project at 98%. The use of recycled shipping containers not only became the workstations/presentation rooms but also the storage and shipping vehicles, which reduced time, energy and carbon footprint.The overall experience was one of high energy and out-of-the-box thinking with regard to materials. We had a terrific collaborative relationship with JGA Design along with a plethora of industry awards recognizing the booth.Kids' Clubhouse: This multiple-award-winning project was great fun in creating an exciting display unit that would not only be functional (SKU capacity) but also would be interactive with a really tough consumer -- kids. The display was created with fun materiality and shape drawing and occupied the kids' attention while the parents could make the purchase decision.Our collaboration with The Carlson Group was invaluable in working through the plethora of design/material challenges. The display was to be one of the very first ever allowed into this particular door of distribution and was a great success with subsequent orders/placement.Timberland Packaging Program: This initiative was an opportunity to tell the Timberland story from the inside out. We took a more unique approach to storytelling that started with the materials used. They are understated, but with a rugged quality and attention to detail. The use of 100% post-consumer recycled material, soy- and water-based inks turned the conventional shoebox inside out, stripping away all the heavy amounts of ink.Where other shoeboxes are blank containers on the interior, the inside of our new box carries our message, our voice -- it's an intimate point of contact with the customer and is a testament to what we do as a company, but also calls us to action with the question, "What kind of footprint will you leave?" printed across the iconic boot print. The inside-out story continues with the product inside the box becoming the vehicle in which to leave your footprint.Additionally, we added a "nutrition label" -- the first in the footwear industry -- which creates an unprecedented level of transparency to the consumers. The label is titled "Our Footprint" and highlights our environmental and community impact along with manufacturer details.What are the greatest challenges involved in creating outstanding P-O-P in your category?How can you stand out in a provocative and differentiated way from everyone else in the space? It is all about relentless storytelling and ensuring that you have told that story with an authentic voice that creates relevance and desire.Do you expect to see more or less emphasis on P-O-P materials in footwear/apparel in the future? Why?I believe that with budgetary reductions it will become incumbent on us all to be more creative in the manner in which we present ourselves. My hope and belief is that there will be more emphasis on P-O-P materials ensuring that the very savvy consumer "gets it" even quicker than before.What have you found to be the most important elements of a successful display?It starts with a strategic/concise creative brief, great collaboration with product design, marketing and sales, a team of passionate in-house/external creative geniuses and partnerships with manufacturers ensuring that the end result nailed the strategic intent.What have been the most significant changes affecting the use of displays or other merchandising in the past five years?Longevity. We tire of things way too quickly and need to be more thoughtful with regard to how we can extend overall life and flexibility of the materials created.You are in a wide variety of channels, from small outdoors shops to huge sporting goods retailers and your own brand stores. How do you balance all of these distinct retailer requirements and unique locations?It is important that while we need to meet the needs of all of our retailers, the main objective is to ensure that we remain true to ourselves and to the core values of the brand -- an unwavering desire to make a difference in all we do.What market forces and cultural changes are affecting your company's use of P-O-P materials and how will this affect your displays in the future?Budgets, available space within the account and overall costs all make us push creativity that much harder.Timberland puts a strong emphasis on sustainability.Why is this and how is it implemented in-store?Our environmental values were first put into action through a commitment to community service. Every Timberland employee gets 40 hours every year to volunteer in the community where they work and live. Through Earth Day projects and events like Serv-a-palooza -- when the entire company steps out of the workplace for one business day to pull on their boots and make a difference -- we believe in doing what we can to improve the world around us at multiple levels.We partner with groups like City Year and Clean Air-Clean Planet to learn how to best put our passion to work. We continue this passion for making a difference in all we do from LEED certification for our environments, printing processes, material choices and vendor partnerships.We launched a first-in-the-industry nutrition label on our shoeboxes, and an updated nutrition label will be launched for fall 2008. In addition to the one on our shoeboxes, now every single shoe and boot will carry a label right on the soles of our product, adding an extra layer of transparency for consumers to interact with immediately, before they even see the shoebox. Environmental values in action are part of our core beliefs.What do you like best about your job?Bringing strategies/ideas to life in a dimensional way. Integrity, authenticity and making a difference are all distinct qualities that I value both in my personal life and also at Timberland as we look to partner with individuals/companies that share those same core values. I have been privileged to work with a terrific internal team and also an outstanding group of external resources on a plethora of strategic initiatives over the past eight years. It has been a rewarding experience both personally and professionally.Taking our work incredibly seriously but with a genuine sense of humor and collaboration that focuses on providing results that deliver beyond the expected objectives has been key. Our passion is for doing the right thing along with our humble intention/hope that the end result in some small way will make a difference in people's attitudes toward what/how they view not only the product/brand but also the world around them.What advice would you give to anyone just breaking into the P-O-P business?Do it all with great passion, commitment and belief.

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