'ANDY'S BEACH CLUB'

‘Andy’s Beach Club’

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“Since 1966, we’ve lived by the belief that Vans isn’t a shoe and apparel company but a people company that makes shoes and apparel.”

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About Vans

• Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and other related apparel since 1966. 

• Based in Santa Ana, California, owned by VF Co-operation and founded by Paul Van Doren, the company also sponsors surf, BMX, snowboarding and motocross teams. 

• Their brand 'Off The Wall' is described, ''"Off The Wall" is a rallying cry for self-expression. From art and music to skating and surfing we're showcasing the people who inspire us with their creativity, authenticity, and passion. This is our story. This is Off The Wall.' (Vans, 2020). 

• Linked closely to 'Off The Wall', their other sub-brand, 'House of Vans', actively follows the spirit, which creates various events in New York and London. Showcasing art, music, BMX, skateboarding, fashion and street culture. 

• House of Vans in London opened under Waterloo station. The venue allowed the eclectic diversity of London and the cultures who have embraced Vans from the very beginning to showcase creativity.

• Vans 'Warped Tour' is an essential part of Vans' brand which has been going since 1995. It is a travelling tour in the US, initially showcasing rock and punk music, however in recent years it has become much more of a diverse music event.

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Demographic

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• Vans main selling point, is to target the sporting demographic, including skateboarders, snowboarders and BMX riders.

• However, in 2000 the brand were “recognized by Forbes as one of "America's best small companies for 2000."” (Vans, 2020). Reaching them out to a broader audience.

• From a survey of 15 participants 80% were aged between 18-24.

• The survey also displayed the gender of Vans customers weighing at 53% male to 47% female. 

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Previous Brand Partnerships

• Vans are a brand who pride themselves on creativity, especially in 'the arts'.

• Their latest brand partnership is with Disney's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', which works extremely well with a fraction of their audience and fits nicely into the film arts. 

• Previously and still to this day Vans have worked with many different brands to create authentic collaboration ranges within 'the arts', some of these include rock band Metallica in 2013 and fashion designer Karl Langerford in 2017. 

• The Metallica x Vans collection was extremely successful with rock fans and had various write ups in publications such as: Kerrang, Loudwire and Sneaker News – extremely well-suited publications to target the audience.

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Competition

• An example of a similar campaign we aim to create the success of another extremely is Tyler the Creator's Golf le Fleur's for Converse which was launched in 2017. 

• The rapper initially established his fashion line 'Golf Wang' in 2011, which catered to the streetwear, skateboarding and hip-hop community, through creating vibrant and unique clothing and accessories.

• In order to promote the release of his new album ' Flower Boy', the rapper partnered with Converse to create his signature shoe range 'Golf le Fleur'.

• The range was incredibly successful with trainers being sold out nearly instantly, Tyler the Creator has since released many more collections with the brand.

 
Artist Partnership

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• Real name, Brandon Paak Anderson, Anderson .Paak is an American Rapper, Singer, Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and record producer.

• Genre following the style of Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop and reminisces artists such as: Kendrick Lamar, Tom Misch and Rejjie Snow.

• He had a troubled upbringing, including witnessing his father abuse his mother at the age of seven.

• The rapper worked hard in order to become a success in the music industry, including becoming the drummer for former American Idol semi-finalist Haley Reinhart. He also produced Cover Art, an all-covers EP featuring Soul and R&B artists covering folk and rock classics.

• Similar to Tyler the Creator, through the testimonial's propaganda technique, Anderson .Paak has his own unique vibrant style in both music and fashion.

• Vans audience are typically young and from a working-class background, similar to .Paak’s background, this plays to the plain folks theory.

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Concepts and Ideas

• To this day, Vans are still commonly associated with Punk/Emo music, we want to make it clear to audience’s that we are a much more diverse brand than just that.

• Anderson .Paak will work with us in order to create and design his own unique styles of Vans.

• Paak will design 5 different styles of the shoes.

• The collection will be available in Vans stores globally as well as online. The range will have a standalone section in stores as well as a sub-section on the Vans website.

• The range will be limited edition and available in store and online until sold out.

• The rapper has marketed himself incredibly well through his signature phrase 'Yes Lawd' which is used in nearly all his songs. He once again established his brand through his 2019 tour, with the name 'Andy's Beach Club', something all fans new and old picked up on extremely quickly. This gave us an immediate indication of what the range should be named.

• A keen surfer, as referenced throughout second album 'Malibu', he evidently lends itself to Vans and our surf wear.

• His outlandish suits, glasses and beanies are frequently dressed down with a pair of Vans, another reason why Anderson and Vans are the perfect brand partnership. 

• The main aim for this collaboration is to remind audiences of our ethos of ‘the arts’. It has been 7 years since Vans have partnered with a musician or band, which was Metallica back in 2013. This was a hugely successful campaign, we want to mimic it’s success but with a completely different genre of music to entice further audiences. 

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4 P's Marketing Mix for ‘Andy’s Beach Club’

• Product: Vans, co-created with Anderson .Paak, appealing to fans of the specific shoe or artist.

• Price: Based on the standard price of a pair of Old Skool Vans, £60 and the price of another musician and shoe collaboration, £130, the average price of the 'Andy's Beach Club' range should come in at around £115.

• Promotion: The range will be heavily promoted on all social media, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It will be beneficial to take advertising back to its old ways, so it will be visible to not just a specific audience, so bus stops, train station billboards ect. 

• Place: Vans store and online store for brand exclusivity.

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Goals

• By introducing a relatively new and extremely popular artist in the hip-hop genre, this would perhaps help to move the rock/punk association to one side, as audiences can delve deeper into the fact Vans are now much more of a diverse brand.

• The campaign will help to create synergy, targeting Anderson .Paak fans to purchase the Vans range, and vice versa, loyal Vans customers liking the range will lead them to Anderson .Paak’s music.

• To spark a conversation amongst Vans and Paak fans, creating general awareness of the collaboration. 

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Strategies and Targets

• Creating a large amount of promotion online and social media platforms in order to target the demographic of Vans, whilst still making sure to incorporate a vast amount of print media in order to reach out to other audiences.

• Extending Vans consumer base further by using a hip-hop artist as opposed to a rock/punk artist which has been used in the past.

• By using an artist such as Anderson .Paak, who is also respected in the fashion industry as well as the music, this can generate fashion press regarding the collaboration.

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Official Media Partner: Pitchfork

• Pitchfork will be covering the main campaign as well as any other events which will be happening to promote the launch.

• We have decided to work alongside Pitchfork due to their extensive range of coverage of different music genres. They also cover the latest news, which includes anything from music news to the newest relevant campaigns, this therefore fits the campaign of music/fashion.

• Using a publication such as Pitchfork works with the demographic of both Vans and Anderson .Paak, it is completely gender neutral and not age biased, therefore targeting a wide variety of audiences.  

• Pitchfork will have the exclusive interview with Anderson .Paak, as well as being granted with exclusive usage of the promotional footage to use on social platforms on the date of the announcement of the collaboration.

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Campaign Events

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House Of Vans

• At Vans we are able to take advantage of the House Of Vans, therefore we have made use of this in order to create two hugely exclusive Anderson. Paak shows in our London and New York branches.

• Tickets will be free and available the same way as all House Of Vans events are, through our Queue app, where tickets will be distributed on a first come first serve basis.

• The event will take place May 1st 2020.

• This will generate earned media through the hype revolving around the exclusive shows, consequently creating awareness of the collaboration

Radio 1’s Big Weekend

• At Vans we pride ourselves on creativity, therefore we want this campaign to be the most creative yet.

• We will be pitching to Radio 1’s Big Weekend regarding having a pop-up event at the festival with a twist.

• We plan on having an exclusive pop up tent at the festival, promoting the launch of ‘Andy’s Beach Club’.

• The pop-up with be loaded with sand, beach balls and deck chairs to illuminate the vibe of the campaign. 

• It will also include an interactive VR surfing simulator, where festival goers can have the opportunity to play to win bespoke Vans/Anderson .Paak/R1BG merchandise.

• We are also planning to activate a feature on the Radio 1’s Big Weekend app, that allows anyone who is in a 5m radius of the pop-up to receive a notification, giving participants treasure hunt hints – the treasure being 5 pairs of Anderson .Paak Vans hidden around the festival site.

• This will generate earned and paid media, through the festival attendees as well as journalists and bloggers. The paid media will come from our official media partner, Pitchfork.

• The decision to pick Radio 1’s Big Weekend is due to the exclusivity of the festival, the artists performing this year are of a huge variety of genre’s, something Anderson .Paak would definitely fit into and someone who attendees would be expected to know of, creating excitement.

• The date of the festival also fits perfectly around the time of the release of the campaign, therefore the press generated through this event will still be relevant.

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Social Media Content 

• To launch and promote the collaboration, Anderson .Paak will post teaser clips from the promotional video 7 days prior to the collection release date, these will be posted on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

• The promotional video for the campaign will be shot by production company ‘Leap’, who have previously directed perfume ad campaigns for Dior, Fenty and Louis Vuitton. (@loveuropeandpartners, 647 followers, lower left) (Leap, 2020)

• Photos to promote the product will be shot by photographer Mikki Gomez, who has previously worked with Anderson. Paak. (@mikki.gomez, 4171 followers, lower right) (Gomez, 2020)

• The promotional video will be shared by Vans, Anderson .Paak and Pitchfork on all their social media platforms.

• The photos will be used as one of the main promotional sources, used on billboards, bus advertisements and train/subway posters.

• All posts must have end with the hashtag #AndysBeachClub

Further Media Content: Pitches

Long Leads: Major Music Publications (Online and Print)

• Sam Moore (NME)

• Angus McKeon (Clash)

• Emma Garland (Noisey)

• Heran Mamo (Billboard)

• Jane Bussmann (The Face)

• Ben Homewood (Music Week)

• David Renshaw (The FADER)

Long Leads: Fashion Publications (Online and print)

• Tish Weinstock (i-D, Journalist)

• Kelli Orihuela (Vanity Fair, Fashion Associate)

• Ella Alexander (Harper’s Baazar, Fashion Editor)

• Zak Maoul (GQ, Style Editor)

• Elizabeth Davidson (DAZED, Journalist)

• Daniel Dumas (Esquire, Editor)

Short Leads: Local London Publications (Print)

• Kitty Empire (The Guardian, Music)

• David Smyth (The Evening Standard, Music)

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Campaign Timeline

December

• Begin pitching to long lead publications and official media partner Pitchfork.

January 

• Start shooting promo photos with photographer Mikki Gomez.

• Shoot promo video with Leap.

Mid-February

• Anderson .Paak posts teaser videos on his personal Instagram account.

Early-March

• Collection is announced by Vans and Anderson .Paak on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

• Promo video is released.

Mid-March

• Promotional material is out on billboards, bus stops, train stations ect.

• Publications release features on the collaboration.

End of March

• Collection is available to buy on Vans online and in store.

Early-May

• House Of Vans event takes place.

Mid-May

• Radio 1’s Big Weekend pop up event.

End of May

• Coverage released about pop-up event, generating further press after collection has been released.