Timbuk2 Brand Experience

I used 4 mes­senger bags throughout col­lege. 3 of which were bought at thrift stores for less than $2 each. So when I got a real job (a post about that coming soon), I decided to invest in a good mes­senger. Considering I ride 2 miles to work every day with a $2000 laptop in my bag, I wouldn’t want a cheap strap to break.

So I checked out the hip­ster mes­senger favorites, Chrome and Timbuk2. Chrome didn’t have many options and the ones I’ve seen looked bulky, so I tried out Timbuk2. They let users post product reviews (pos­i­tive & neg­a­tive) on the site, which was an awe­some way to learn about the bag from people riding with it, not just a flowery descrip­tion. Loved the custom bag maker. I chose a mono­chro­matic look. 2 panels of light­weight black and 1 panel of reflec­tive restaurant-booth-style vinyl. Like an Orca.

But the most impres­sive part of the pur­chase was the per­sonal touch they put on every­thing I got from them. This snippet from the con­fir­ma­tion e-mail was so much more enter­taining than the usual con­fir­ma­tion receipt:

We sug­gest that you actu­ally read it and like it because this is what you are get­ting and the address below is where we are going to send it. If you must be That Person, we can TRY our best to make changes or cancel your order.  This is only if we have had enough coffee and our ware­house hasn’t… Remember, this is only if your order is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Once your order makes it to our pro­duc­tion line, we can’t change it for you and if it’s custom, we can’t take it back. Not because we don’t love you; but because we already have really, really nice custom made Messenger bags from Timbuk2.  It’s part of the uniform.

It was refreshing to get some­thing with some per­son­ality. Made me feel better about spending $200 on a back­pack. When I actu­ally got the bag in the mail there was another sur­prise. It didn’t come in a bloated box like every­thing from Amazon. It came in a plastic ship­ping bag with a map on it. Not just any map. It’s a bike route map of San Francisco with all the loca­tions you can buy Timbuk2 bags tagged. They encourage you to cut it out and reuse it for some­thing. But the writing is bril­liant. Not your average Starbucks cor­po­rate eco-friendly statement.

Now every time I need a travel bag, I know exactly where I’ll look first. Next time I go to San Francisco, I want to go check out their office. I couldn’t care less about vis­iting the Jansport fac­tory or the Nike fac­tory. But because of the extra per­son­ality Timbuk2 gave me, I am now fas­ci­nated with their brand and want to sup­port any­thing they do.

This is pow­erful branding. All about knowing your audi­ence and taking every oppor­tu­nity to be gen­uine and per­sonal with them. Timbuk2 has a mis­sion and it’s not to be the biggest mes­senger bag com­pany on earth. But it is to be the best. And to not destroy the earth in the process.

I’m a fan. And the bag is awe­some, too.