Overview
In 2021 Vans presented their campaign ‘THESE PROJECTS ARE ADS FOR CREATIVITY’
An artist-first campaign celebrating creativity in all forms. The campaign invites and allows all
artists to challenge their inner artists and discover new forms of expression. Vans has positioned
the artists at the forefront of who they are through the campaign. They want the art to portray a
beloved community that is bold and creative because that is exactly what “Off the Wall” conveys
to them. “We believe that ‘Off The Wall’ is a state of mind,” Palladini says of Vans’ long–
standing tagline. “It’s a way you approach what you do with yourself during these 700,000 hours
of life that we have. That ties our group together, regardless of age.
This campaign is for all different appeals and demographic areas in mind. “Instead of creating
advertising that talks about creativity, we wanted to use this campaign as a vehicle to showcase
true, physical creativity in all of its forms. So we simply enabled creatives all over the world to
make things,” said Rob Teague, Vans global executive creative director. “Drawings, paintings,
music, sculptures, video edits, skate spots, crazy animations, weird surfboards, and things we
didn’t expect. In place of traditional ads, we as a brand wanted to get out of the way and support
a diverse range of people, and their different creative outputs. That’s what Vans is all about – to
not just talk about creative expression, but to actively champion it through our products,
platforms, and campaigns.” The campaign will persist all year long in 2022, Rather than
employing a traditional ad campaign, Vans commissioned artists to go out into the world and
bring their projects to life. “Above all else, Vans believes in the power of creative manifestation
