Vans announces artist roster as part of new campaign

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
May 20, 2021

Dubbed 'These Projects Are Ads for Creativity', Vans shared on Wednesday over 16 new artist stories to spotlight as part of its artist-first brand campaign that showcases creativity in its purest form.

As part of the campaign, Vans will reveal new stories from artists that goes beyond a conventional ad campaign to showcase a talented roster of independent artists from around the world. The campaign encourages artists to go out and make things such as spoken word poetry, music videos, song making, zine creation, VR and murals. 

Newly revealed artists as part of the series include Lei-Mai LeMaow, from Liverpool, Muzi from South African, Miami’s Kelly Breez, as well as JPEGMAFIA’s. Others includes Kelly Breez, Pepe Rivas, Justin Henry, and more. 

The initiative, first launched in March, was unveiled as a digital hub of art projects at vans.com/offthewall. 

"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," explained Rob Teague, Vans global executive creative director, back in March. 

As part of the latest series, Lei-Mai LeMaow said: “I wanted to create something that everyone could enjoy after the isolating, strange times we are living in today, so I created a wall mural with an extra element of film layered onto the artwork with a projector to give passersby a feeling of inclusion and a moment of happiness. The mural sits in a large open space in Manchester City Centre’s Northern Quarter, so it is a safe space for people to stop and take in my cheerful creation.”