Team Cool Beans

Lorenzo Lasagna, Brand Strategy

Roxie Xiè, Creative Strategy

Josè Fresàn, Art Direction

Melissa Orr, Copywriting

Vans have been the classic skate shoe since 1966, but skating culture has changed so much since then. These days, one in four skaters are female. So with the release of the new Pro-classics collection, an updated classic shoe now with pro-durability, Vans wanted us to reach aspiring-pro skaters girls and let them know that Pro-classics are here for them. We talked to skater “girls” that shred and asked them what it’s like to be a girl in a typical-guy’s sport. They said the problem is that a lot of guys still don’t take them seriously as skaters and they’re still being mansplained to—explained obvious tricks they already know about skating…

We thought, Boards have evolved, tricks have evolved, even Vans have evolved, so why haven’t skaters?

That’s why we flipped the narrative—to lash back with girlsplaining. Vans #GIRLSPLAIN wants to let skater-pro girls know that Vans Pro-classics supports them.

VANS #GIRLSPLAIN OOH Manifesto Poster

The first element in our campaign is a manifesto poster lashing back at guys. I made sure to hone in on the voice of an annoyed but cool skater girl who’s been too busy skating but has been meaning to speak up about mansplains…and now is her chance.

Case Study Video

Our video explains why we decided to flip the term “mansplain,” which in case you’re not familiar, (lucky you), is when guys over-explain something to a girl she already knows in a bossy, cringe-worthy way. Skater girls and women confessed to us that they deal with this issue all the time. So Vans wants to give them the respect that they deserve as true skaters by girlsplaining this back to guys.

Out of Home Stickers

(Click through gallery)

Stickers are a huge part of underground skate culture so we wrote a bunch of different girlsplains for guys to see plastered at skater hangouts all over the city. Each sticker reads #GIRLSPLAIN which is both the name of the campaign and the actual working hashtag on social media. As a copy-driven campaign, it was super important that we got the tone just right—annoyed, patronizing, know-it-all and tough.

Social Media

Vans will ask bad-ass skater girls on Instagram to share their slickest moves on IG stories using our branded #GIRSLPLAIN sticker which will then be queued first for watching.

VANS #GIRLSPLAIN Custom Shoe Design