Case Study: Timberland
‘Accelerating’ growth through a new business model
During the First Three Months:
48%
Increase on the Revenue Target
70%
Increase of Sales Vs. The Previous Year
135%
Over Revenue Target for Newly Recruited Publishers

About Timberland
Timberland has been making authentic boots, shoes, apparel, and accessories since 1973. From humble beginnings in New Hampshire, to a global company with locations in over 15 countries and a member of VF Corporation – a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel and footwear.

The Story
Timberland was limited with resource and the team didn’t have time to invest in the channel and pursue new opportunities which affected the performance. To counter this, the brand upgraded to Rakuten Advertising’s new business model – Accelerate.
Accelerate is a fully managed affiliate programme that capitalises on Rakuten Advertising’s network and performance data to amplify existing reach and fuel growth at a high pace. It allows brands to control costs and reduces risk.
The move to Accelerate provided Timberland with the following benefits:
- It runs on a fixed cost of sale which includes tenancy, publisher commission and network service fees
- It frees up resources as the Rakuten Advertising account management team takes control of management of the programme
- Access to a dedicated analyst who advises on how best to optimise and grow the programme through recruitment and activation opportunities

The Goal
With its move to the Accelerate, Timberland wanted to increase affiliate revenue by 15%. This needed to be achieved with a 10% fixed cost of sale.
Additional objectives included recruiting new publishers, optimising new publishers and activating dormant publishers to drive additional revenue.
Key Strategies
The Accelerate team produced a forecast and identified key publishers to drive growth through activation and optimisation of existing partnerships. This was done by reviewing and benchmarking performance across a cohort of similar advertisers.
To determine the cost of sale required to deliver a successful Accelerate programme, optimum CPA rates were analysed. They continued to be reviewed regularly throughout all campaigns to ensure the best rates are offered but not exceeded to allow investment in other opportunities.
To track performance, automated reports are sent daily to a collaborative online group which included the analytics and account, management teams. Alongside the daily report, weekly calls are held between the account manager and analyst to discuss performance and optimisation proposals.
Results
During the first three months of the new Accelerate model being live, the revenue target was exceeded by 48% with an increase of 70% of sales on the previous year.
Programme highlights included:
Revenue from newly recruited publishers exceeded the target by 135%
Revenue from optimising existing publishers exceeded the target by 753%
Revenue from reactivated publishers exceeded the target by 3114%