Goal Dust

The fiercely loyal fans of Portland’s Major League Soccer Team, the Portland Timbers, are brought together by a love of their team and a number of traditions, many of which began with original, accidental, and beloved mascot Timber Jim. Timber Jim was an actual lumberjack and a Timbers enthusiast. After asking if he could bring his chainsaw to one of the games to energize the fans - and to his surprise, receiving permission - Jim began to dazzle the crowd with tricks like forward handsprings and slicing off a log round for every goal scored at home. When the Timbers decided to partner with a timber company, Hampton Lumber, for the first time in their 40-year history, they knew they needed to establish the partnership organically and in harmony with the Timbers Army culture… but how?

Start with the culture and work from there! Hampton Lumber donated the log that would be used to mark each goal scored at home throughout the season and rewarded employees with an opportunity to become Goal Dusters - folks who would gather and catalog the sawdust generated by each slice of the log. From concept to delivery, our in-house design team worked closely with the Timbers to memorialize each home goal during the 2017 season. Every bag of Goal Dust was sent to Figure Plant - where it was placed into laser-cut and laser-etched stainless steel coins. Each coin looked like a round of wood (and the Hampton Lumber logo), and when displayed together in their gold bar-inspired stand, created a full log again.

The Goal Dust campaign won the award for MLS Platform Activation of the Year, as voted on by all the clubs. Ultimately, the Timbers gifted a set of coins to a grateful Timbers Army, and a set to Hampton Lumber. A third set went to the Stand Together auction, helping to raise money for the Timbers’ many philanthropic programs in the Portland community. In the end, the Goal Dust coins took the original lumber full circle, creating and sharing community along the way.