On Tuesdays, I walk after work to my Tai Chi class at Psyrri neighborhood in Athens. As I walk through some of the oldest neighborhoods in the Greek capital, I wind down and get myself mentally ready for the class. During a walk few days ago, I noticed something different adjacent to BIOS bar located at Piraeos street that had not been around previously. There were some people chilling on the pedestrian street, who seemingly belonged to the same “tribe”. I quickly figured out they were all somehow related to skateboarding. The rather “rough” signage outside BIOS signaled that this is an event by the Vans brand. For those who are not familiar, Vans is a manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, based in California.

I went inside and I noticed an industrial space with displays of their new shoe Berle Pro which is a skate shoe following the “less is more” Vans approach. The company claims that it has extra durability, better boardfeel and grip. I admired talented riders performing their tricks, who I found out that they were trying the new shoe in skate ramps during the first wear test for the newly launched model in Greece. The skateboarders there, are genuine influencers that were not chosen by their followers figure (like many other brands choose to do), but rather chosen because they are the experts / the family / the community for Vans. The company through this wear test asked for their honest and sincere feedback on the product while keeping them close to the brand. The event was super cool with great music, skateboarding tricks and chocolate waffle (which by the way is the name of the Vans sole). This event was not set up for the cameras. This didn’t feel like a corporate event. The question came instantly: Why would Vans care so much to organize an event just for 30 people and their friends?

Despite being very specialized, similarly to other companies that produce shoes and apparel for niche sports, Vans has a massive appeal to teenagers. You can easily tell by looking at teenagers in Greece that their sales are flourishing. From what I have noticed, Vans is not advertising massively, however thousands of pairs are sold every year to happy customers who are not skateboarders in their majority. The company has chosen not to communicate massively, but rather stay super focused to their target group, which is the skateboarding community. By staying true to their values and not copying the “let’s reach the 12-18 TG” communication strategy,  they keep the coolness factor high for the brand and therefore leave the word of mouth and the true ambassadors do the communication work for them.  Sometimes an event like this indicates that extraordinary commercial performance, could be attributed to the consistent communication strategy followed. Think about it!