Vans is driving giant van replicas of its new shoes around NYC

Vans kicked off the release of its new all-weather shoe collection in a big way–literally. On Saturday, the footwear brand sent two vans, designed to look like giant, 10-foot-tall replicas of Vans’ new MTE-3 shoe line, on a drive throughout New York City, aiming to showcase the “extreme weather defense” the brand promises the new sneakers provide. With one van shaped like a left shoe and the other a right, the pair of “Vans vans” traversed the city streets side-by-side, offering passerby the opportunity to enter the vehicle’s cozy interior, meant to replicate the warmth and resilience against the elements the new sneakers provide, Vans said in a statement. Additionally, those who stopped to take a closer look at the enormous shoes—conceived of and created by creative agency Gut Los Angeles—were offered a pair of (normal-sized) Sk8-Hi MTE-3 sneakers to take home and test for themselves, the statement said. Vans recruited two local influencers—Nicolas Heller, also known as New York Nico, and Lil Mo Mozzarella—to accompany the giant sneakers around the city, hand out shoes to visitors and share the vehicles’ journey throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City. “Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the most impactful,” Bruno Acanfora, executive creative director at Gut, said in Vans’ statement. “What better way to show the latest MTEs have arrived than by literally taking a pair of them on a walk through the streets of New York City?” Heller shared a series of video clips featuring the oversized Vans on his Instagram, in which he shows himself riding in one of the wheeled sneakers and chatting with several city residents about the new shoe. A post shared by Nicolas Heller (@newyorknico) Heller’s posts, along with user-generated footage of the vehicles, have garnered widespread organic engagement on Instagram, collectively earning over 1.4 million views and 88,000 likes in just two days, Vans’ statement reads. The brand will share these user-generated videos and social media content captured during the activation by experiential marketing agency Street Factory Media across Vans’ social channels over the coming weeks. "This is something new for the brand,” said Bruno Luglio, creative director of Vans Americas. “Our goal is to illustrate the benefits of MTE in a bigger way, no pun intended. It's a product demo meets product test drive.”

Vans is driving giant van replicas of its new shoes around NYC

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