On the heels of an eventful 50th anniversary year, Vans shared what is in store for Spring ’17.
We checked in with Kelly Murnaghan, Senior Director of North American Marketing for Vans, who shared what we can expect from the brand this spring.
What’s new for Spring ’17?
Kelly Murnaghan: We are headed for a jam-packed season in Spring ’17. In addition to our plans around our product and athlete support, we will be further investing in the House of Vans, which is an experiential platform that brings Vans to life and is aimed at enabling creative expression within our consumer base.
We will also be entering the eighth year of the Vans Custom Culture high school art competition. This year, we had almost 3,000 schools participate, and the winning school, John P. Stevens High School, received $50,000 toward its art programming.
The program continues to grow and brings forth more and more opportunities for Vans and our partners to invest in arts education and support the next generation of creative individuals.
Last but not least, we are gearing up to move into a new Vans Global Headquarters in Costa Mesa. We are excited at the prospect of being in an environment that allows for creative thinking and broader cross-functional collaboration.
What is the most important product story for spring?
Kelly Murnaghan: Vans Spring messaging will mostly be dedicated to celebrating our brand and the iconic Classic styles that have formed the foundation of our product design for 50 years.
We have seen strong success with the Sk8-Hi and Old Skool silhouettes, so anticipate supporting those styles with paid and owned media, as well as in wholesale and retail.
We’re also excited about some of the Authentic product that’s slated to launch, and you will see limited edition capsules dropping through the season with our Vault by Vans partners.
What was the biggest hit of last season?
Kelly Murnaghan: Well, two kids from Riverside Poly High, Daniel Lara and Josh Holz, made sure that all eyes were on white Vans! We got quite a lot of attention on our white Slip-Ons and Authentics thanks to the Damn Daniel meme that hit in February.
More recently, we have seen a huge amount of interest in our Sidestripe product, with Old Skools and Sk8-His showing up prominently across sneaker trends to runways to celebrities.
We also saw a great deal of interest in our latest licensed project, which was with Nintendo. It’s a really fun collaboration using 8-bit inspired artwork and characters from Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, as well as an assortment honoring Nintendo’s first console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
Anything else new with business?
Kelly Murnaghan: We are seeing very strong cross-channel growth within our business and are ensuring our internal teams are adequately staffed to activate the brand.
To that end, we are continuing to grow our North America team and Eladio Correa recently accepted the position of Brand Marketing Director. Eladio was formerly in a Global Product Marketing role at Vans, and will now be responsible for activating the brand in key markets.
It’s great to have more and more people grow through the brand and bring their experience from different functions and regions.
