Gen-Z, Millennial Media Opps: Vans loses two DMs amid spend increases (Score 35)

Sales lead: These departures will affect the company's marketing strategy & agency roster.

• Vans recently announced that David Tichiaz (VP & GM of Americas) and Kristin Harrer (global CMO) have left the company. 
• Tichiaz joined the company in 2006 as a regional account manager. 
• Harrer joined the company in 2021 as senior Americas brand marketing director. 
• We will be sure to update you as soon as Vans announces replacements. 

In other news: 

• Vans promoted Marc Johns to Americas marketing VP in January 2023.
• Johns joined the company as senior director of brand marketing in 2021. 
• He appears to be the reigning marketing DM at this time. 

Target demographic: Gen-Zers & millennials 

The company will likely:

• Continue increasing digital ad spend
• Experiment with different digital ad channels
• Make changes to its agency roster

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Vans spent around $7.3m on digital display ads YTD, a 38% increase from $5.3m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 928.3m impressions via Instagram (54%), Facebook (31%), YouTube (14%), and desktop display (2%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend jumped 57% from $20.2m in 2021 to $31.8m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 100% of these ads directly onto sites such as instagram.com, facebook.com, youtube.com, highsnobiety.com, and whowhatwear.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: Vans also invests in OOH and print ads.

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: The recent DM shifts may lead to agency reviews or appointments. 
• Current roster: 
  • Starcom Worldwide: media planning & social
  • GUT Los Angeles: creative
  • In-house: media

Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix.