Vans and Ogilvy Social.Lab teamed up with viral musician Jacob Collier for the most Off The Wall music collab… live on Twitch

Brussels, 8th of october 2021 - Vans Europe came to Ogilvy Social.Lab with a challenge: turn what was meant to be a live music event (cancelled due to Covid restrictions) into a livestream experience to launch the Vans EVDNT UltimateWaffle shoe. So, the agency and Vans turned to Twitch.

With livestream content on the rise, Twitch was identified as a key channel for Vans to reach an emerging audience - young, hyper-connected experience seekers. As the leading livestream platform, it allows Vans to intimately engage with familiar groups around key interests linked to the brand such as music, art, and extreme sports, while also extending to the community most active on the platform - gamers.But Twitch, you could say, is its own universe. What works on other platforms doesn’t always work on there. To make the stream successful, it had to be memorable, highly engaging for the audience, and unpredictable enough to keep people watching. So, the Belgian agency had an Off The Wall idea: teaming up with an artist to live-produce a beat using the EVDNT UltimateWaffle shoe itself.

Ogilvy Social.Lab oversaw the activation from A to Z, laying down the strategy and media planning, and owning creative development and production. And in collaboration with talent agency Black Sparrow they took on the task of finding a famous musician who was up to the unique challenge.

Pulling this off required a very special talent. One that could live create music, entertain, and engage with the audience, and think on their feet (laced in the EVDNT UltimateWaffle naturally). Enter Jacob Collier, the 5-time Grammy award winning multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer dubbed by many as one of the most innovative musicians of his generation.

And on August 21^st, at 8PM CET, the Off The Wall magic happened live from House of Vans in London. For 1.5 hours, Jacob Collier composed an original track, using a playground of props and EVDNT UltimateWaffle shoes as instruments (like an actual shoe harp). The vibe was playful, experimental, and collaborative, with Collier involving the Twitch audience in every step and decision of his creative process through interactive polls and chat comments, allowing them to shape the feel of the final song. Over 237,000 people viewed the stream, which smashed the 100k objective. This was music to Vans’ ears. ​ ​

The event was announced and promoted via teasers on Twitch, Instagram and Facebook. Jacob Collier also promoted the session on his own social channels with self-made content to recruit his followers to view the experience. On D Day, the Twitch stream was promoted on Twitch's homepage. People who missed the event in real time could catch up through highlights on Twitch and beyond so everyone could experience the Ultimate Beat. ​ ​

This was the final, EMEA-relevant activation capping off a series of national EVDNT live activations led by Local Markets.

If you missed it, there’s more come. Stay tuned for the next Off The Wall stream on the Vans Europe Twitch channel!

Credits

Agency: Ogilvy Social.Lab

Client: Vans Europe

Jacob Collier’s team :

Quentin Glodé

Head of Influence | PR & Communications Director, Ogilvy Social.Lab

• quentin.glode@ogilvy.com