Chuck Goldman, CEO of Boston-based mobile app development house Apperian, called me this week to let me know about the launch of Timberland Expedition. The new iPhone application, which went live in Apple’s iTunes App Store today, was designed by Apperian to appeal to the outdoor-enthusiast types whom Stratham, NH-based Timberland (NYSE: [[ticker:TBL]]) considers the core market for its footwear and athletic clothing.
I’ve been playing around with the free app a bit today, and I’m impressed by its combination of slick design, useful features and content, and entertainment. The app is important for Timberland because it’s the company’s first venture into the burgeoning world of mobile marketing. And it’s important for Apperian because it’s exactly the kind of application that the startup, which I profiled when it came out of stealth mode back in March, says it’s best at building: those that help big companies extend their brands into the mobile universe.
“It’s shaping how users interact with a big brand that’s fun and exciting for us,” says Goldman. He calls the Timberland app, which Apperian built in conjunction with Mullen, Timberland’s Boston-based advertising agency, “an ‘edutainment’-type app that combines the core location features of the iPhone with user-generated content and a blend of catalogs and other content to extend Timberland’s marketing efforts onto a brand-new platform.”
Which is a mouthful. What the app really does, more than anything else, is leave the user with a warm-and-fuzzy feeling toward Timberland. That is, assuming he or she has a penchant for outdoor exploration, electronic gadgets, and shopping, which is not-unusual combination in New England. While Zumobi, a Seattle-based mobile application developer, has worked with REI to produce a snow-report application for iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Windows Mobile devices, the Timberland app represents the first time an outdoor gear retailer has come out with a multipurpose mobile application, Goldman says.
When you open the Timberland app, you see an antique-looking compass that gives you four options:
1. Expeditions—a selection of suggested hikes, bike rides, scenic views, and local attractions around, initially, six cities: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York. (Here at Xconomy, we’re lobbying for the addition of Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and San Diego.) Each expedition comes with a brief description, a photo, a link to a Google map, and directions to the spot from the user’s current location. Whenever you click on “expedition” on a map, you also see the locations of nearby Timberland stores, which Goldman says was part of Apperian’s strategy to use the app to drive traffic to bricks-and-mortar outlets. Interestingly, Timberland plans to expand the Expeditions section over time using destinations, photos, and writeups submitted by users. (That’s the “user-generated content” Goldman mentions.)
2. Gear—what Goldman calls a “micro-catalog” showcasing Timberland merchandise, with an emphasis on two brand-new footwear lines called Earthkeepers and Timberland Mountain Athletics, both made with recycled rubber. You can’t actually buy shoes from the micro-catalog—Goldman says that function is coming later—but you can click on Timberland’s phone number to order from a telephone rep.
3. Timber Trail—a game that challenges the user to cross an outdoor expanse without running out of energy, food, or water, and without being attacked by bears, snakes, or bees. At the beginning of the game, players gets to choose which Timberland accessories to
