To kick things off, Vans announced a new line of pro skateboarding shoes called the Vans Pro Classics. However, the catch is that these shoes are not for everyone. Instead, they are tailor-made for dedicated skaters who deserve them the most. But, how did Vans come across these chosen few?

Well, to find them out, the brand sent scouts to locate exceptional skaters from remote skating spots across the globe. To bring the hidden talent thus discovered to the limelight, Vans even pledged to sign these newly-found prodigies as official sponsored athletes.

That’s not all! Each selected skater is also set to become the face of one colorway of the Pro Classics series and receive residuals from global sales. Furthermore, the prodigies will also obtain professional training from skateboarding legends.

Ultimately, Skate Scouts is a noble initiative that will foster a new breed of gifted skaters and make them ready for the next Olympics. If that’s not wholesome, we don’t know what is!

Credits
Created by: School of Visual Arts, New York

Tags:
Vans Skate Scouts, Digital, Film, Shoe

“We built the Joyride bead cloud, an installation in a coveted spot in the Dubai Mall Nike store on Fashion Avenue that explained how the beads help improve recovery running. While the technology behind the beads is impressive, we didn’t want to get too caught up in the details of how it works. Instead, we focused on creating a beautiful, artistic sculpture that brought out the playfulness of the shoes and conveyed the essence of what it’s like to go running in them: smooth, effortless, and freeing.

The installation, which was 4m long and over 3m high, was an extraordinarily large undertaking. The CNC-ing of the shoe took over a week in machine time alone, and that didn’t include finishing. We used 148 servo motors to power the beads, which moved at 25cm per second. Building the animations to project onto the beads was a complex process, and we kept tweaking and improving them throughout the duration of the project to ensure they looked exactly right. There were many “what ifs” and “therefores” to write into the code, and the team worked hard to determine every single possible scenario.

Our biggest challenge was ensuring that the interaction worked by triggering the sensors and lights without disrupting the animation, but still making it feel like a responsive experience. We also faced an unexpected and unusual battle: one with air conditioning, as even the slightest breeze could make the beads sway. We added weights to them to help keep them still.”

The results
It was exciting to work on a project that lived in such a high-profile location. The Dubai Mall is the second-largest mall in the world and attracts tens of thousands of visitors a day, driving millions of impressions throughout the campaign.
Even if shoppers only saw the eye-catching installation in passing, they still understood that the Nike Joyrides contain a thousand beads that work hard so you don’t have to.

Tags:
Best Outdoor Campaign, Nike Joyride, Nike Bead cloud, OOH, Best Mall Activation, Joyride bead cloud, Running, Shoe, Dubai Mall