Vans Marketing Promotion Plan Kenny Bindel November 6, 2010

Table Of Contents

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Situational Analysis Establishment of Objectives Dollar Appropriations Management and Coordination of Program Elements Measurement of Program Effectiveness Expected Results, Projected Income And Promotion Follow-Up Footnotes Bibliography

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Situational Analysis

Company History
Vans is a skateboard apparel company that was founded in 1966 in southern California. The company and its shoes became quite popular in the 1980s with the release of the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where a slacker wears Vans now famous checkerboard slip-on shoes. The company is a large player in the skateboard scene, and over the past 15 years has moved into other various action sports such as BMX and snow. At the core of Vans shoes are the athletes that help develop footwear that not only defines their individual style but also technologically pushes the parameters of their sports.

Company Description
Vans is a producer of skateboard apparel and action sports apparel. While shoes are what the company is known for, they also provide consumers with clothes, accessories, and watches. In quarter 3 of 2010, Vans managed to post increases in sales while every other skate shoe brand posted losses up to 20% (Brilliant). Vans target market ranges from teens to people in their mid 20s that are in tune with the action sports community, mainly skate, surf, and snow. In recent years Vans has tried to widen this target market by marketing their products to the age of consumers who may be more in tune with the underground music scene, more then they are with action sports. They are accomplishing this through the Vans Warped Tour, which is a daylong concert that travels the country every summer. With this project my goal is to expand the target market to include more consumers. I will be doing this because if you widen your target market, there are more

consumers that have the potential to buy your product, and the more people that buy your products the more money your company can make.

Environmental Analysis
Economic Currently, our economy is in the midst of bouncing back from a recession, thus causing consumers to have less disposable income, and therefore consumer spending has been down. This period of consumer skepticism and consumers spending their money more conservatively are both a benefit and a hindrance to Vans. Consumer spending slowing down is a benefit to Vans because shoes are a necessity; therefore shoes will still be bought regardless of how the economy is. This situation means that people are still buying what Vans sells, shoes, which is a start if you are going to sell a product at all. This double-edged sword is also a hindrance to Vans in the form of pricing and cost. While Vans are not cheapest shoes in the marketplace, they are competitively priced for the segment they are in, which ranges from casual to athletic; and compared to other brands like Nike and Adidas, which offer similar options, they are significantly cheaper. Energy Prices are another Economic factor that has an affect on Vans. Currently in California, where Vans has its headquarters, central distribution center, four spate skate parks, as well as half of its retail locations, there have been occurrences of energy shortages and power outages. These energy shortages and power outages have created a shift in the supply and demand curve, therefore causing energy prices to increase. Because Vans has so much of their company infrastructure located in California, these cost increases translate to large expenses. If Vans does increase the price of their products 6

to offset the increasing energy costs, many loyal consumers will notice and question why the same pair of shoes that they have purchased before is now costing a few dollars more. Vans recognizes that while being centered in an area that is having a more difficult time adapting in the current economic climate puts them at a disadvantage to other competitors, they are taking steps to produce their products in ways that use less energy.

Political/Legal In 2007, Skechers USA Inc. took Vans to court over use of the checkerboard pattern that is commonly associated with Vans. Vans was fighting the actions of Skechers because of the strong association that the checkerboard pattern has with the brand of Vans. Vans did not want Skechers benefitting financially from the use of their pattern or a pattern similar to Vans, as well as they did not want their customers to be tricked into buying a product that was not an authentic Vans shoe. In November of 2007, Vans sought a preliminary injunction that would have barred Skechers form selling the shoe (Combs). However, the judge denied their injunction because Vans had not established a trademark for the checkerboard design and there fore any company could use it, including Skechers.

Social Vans CEO Gary H. Schoenfeld said that other major brands dont have the right stuff to reach his rebellious market (Weintraub). The main generation that Vans targets is, Generation Y. Generation Y came after the Baby Boomers and according to an article in USA TODAY, Bruce Tulgan, founder of New Haven, Connecticut based

RainmakerThinking, describes this generation as so; unlike the generations that have gone before them, Gen Y has been pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and highmaintenance they also believe in their own worth (Armour). Even though Vans came out in 1966 and Generation Y is between the years 1982-1995, Vans has recognized a unique behavior that Generation Y has. They are more active when it comes to sports and have a laid back idea of working. They want to work, but they dont want work to be their life (Armour). This generation enjoys the active lifestyle and Vans targets that idea by having different events and ways for their consumers to feel like Vans is targeting them individually. Vans has also come out with baby Vans shoes, which are for Generation X mothers. Vans baby line has only been around for the past 3 years, but theyre sale will most likely increase, as Generation Y gets older. In an article about Vans on brandcameo.org, Vivian Manning-Schaffel describes Vans demographic by saying that Vans brand has targeted one of the most fickle types in the marketplace: the rebellious youth segment, an anti-establishment demographic that would bristle at the thought of actually being considered a demographic by the corporate world (Manning-Schaffel). This type of demographic is so unique that Vans competitors have a hard time actually competing. When Vans noticed that many women were taking interest in their product, they released a womens line. The Girls product page is treated like a sub-brand, with a mini-site that depicts a more femme friendly aspect of its trademark youthful rebellion (Manning-Shaffel). By making the Girls website different from Vans homepage this helps the women customers to get a more feminine feel that Vans has made for the women line.

One trend that Vans noticed was that their target market considers snowboarding as an extreme sport, but skiing is seen as wimpy and therefore to remain loyal to their customers, Vans decided to only make products for snowboarders. The main social class that Vans focuses on fall into the upper middle class. Because of the quality of Vans they have a higher price than the average cheap shoe. However they are still reasonable priced so that the middle class can purchase Vans.

Natural When it comes to our Earth and how we treat our environment, there are many companies that are out there to mass-produce their products without any consideration to the effects they are causing on our environment. Trees are being torn down to build factories; plastics and other types of chemicals are being produced to make the cheapest quality products. Even the more expensive products are being made out of synthetics. However, with so many companies making products that are cheap and harmful to our planet, Vans has decided to be one of the first major companies to take a step into the more natural and organic direction. They hope to promote not only a healthy and active lifestyle, but to also promote how to be eco friendly. It all starts at the raw material for their products. Recently Vans has released a line of organic canvas Slip-On shoes that are made out of 100% organic fabric on the top part of the shoe, and then 20% of recycled rubber on the outsoles. Vans has taken notice that since they are a surf, skate and snow company, that most of their consumers are more aware of the outdoors and care about keeping the Earth clean. Especially surfers, because they are out in the ocean and there have been a lot of problems with oil spills and litter,

and the Global Warming ideas that are affecting our oceans. Not only will their organic line increase their support from their loyal customers, but by making a special line with organic materials works to promote a healthier active lifestyle that will even draw in people who may not do any of those activities, but still purchase Vans products just because they agree with the Green movement. Being Green is one of the several steps Vans is taking to try and be more eco friendly. Another type of material Vans is using for their shoes is natural hemp or oiled canvas with water based ink and glue. This is a positive move because hemp and water based ink use less chemicals; the fewer chemicals, the less amount of pollution that is released into the air. It also has received attention from the media that has helped consumers notice this environmental step that Vans has taken to separate themselves from their competition.

Technology Technology is something that has been very significant and influential in America. As technology continues to grow and spread throughout the world there are different ways that companies are using technology. All one has to do is go on Vans.com to see how much Vans is using technology and to the fullest. Social networking has become very popular, so popular that the whole world has adapted it to its various cultures. Companies can no longer afford to ignore social media if they want to compete in the marketplace; it is now required to be competitive. Vans has made sure to infuse its company with sites such as: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flicker, YouTube and BlogSpot. With having so many different additional places where Vans has its company helps with the different

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people they market to. Some people like to just watch various videos about whats going on or whats coming up and so Vans makes various videos for their consumers. They also take many pictures of the multiple events they put on, which helps consumers see the type of events they do if theyve never gone. Having a lot of pictures up of the events Vans puts on, may persuade more people to attend because they will be interested in seeing it for themselves. Twitter is one of the newest and biggest technology trends that has been online. The reason why many major brands are using Twitter according to Rachael King, a reporter for BusinessWeek, talks about why so many brands are using Twitter to improve their marketing or even customer service. The attention to Twitter reflects the power of new social media tools in letting consumers shape public discussion over brands (King). With Twitter being so popular, there are so many people that are on it compared to writing an extensive blog about a product. Rather, people are able to comment about a company or brand, and if that company or brand has a Twitter, then they will hear about people problems or praises. Vans has taken notice of this Twitter trend, and has set up a company account themselves. Vans is able to market and tell people who are following them about the latest events, giveaways, or news that comes up. Vans is also able to see whenever someone Tweets about their experience regarding Vans. With all this technology going on, Vans has found a way to make sure they have every area covered. By keeping up with the new trends that is placed online, there are so many ways to reach different types of people that a company cannot reach by just doing commercials or advertising. Technology is making even the smallest of businesses able to connect with customers, clients, manufactures, and distributers. Social networking is used

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by companies to attract and stay in tune with what their customers have to say about the company and its products. This can be a risky factor as well, because once you have an identity with you customers, they can recruit or dismiss potential customers. With this in mind, since Vans has so many social networks, they have to always check up with how they are doing with their customer service. If the customers are all on their site to attack them, then this could be a very negative thing, due to how many people are on all the various social networks. By maintaining the positive relationships and loyal customers that Vans has, their company will most likely grow at a rapid pace do to technology speeding up the business life cycle.

Competitive For any product on the market, there will always be competitors trying to take away from your product. When it comes to Vans, and their competitors, its actually different than the typical competitor. Vans has three major competitors: Nike, Adidas, and Converse. Whats interesting is that none of these shoe companies actually produce the same type of shoes that Vans produces. However, each of these companies target a similar segment, but offer different styles where the majority of their consumers are loyal and will stick with one brand. The main consumers that each of these companies have, will stay with the one company and wont buy from other companies because they have come to trust and support that one company they love. This right here is where it gets tricky with these four companies, because they know that if they can get that one consumer to commit than they dont have to worry about the other competitors. They can essentially, have a customer for life. Nike, which seems to be a completely different shoe

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company than Vans, realized this when Vans sales started increasing in their sales and Nike sales started to drop. In 1995 Nike tried to invade Vans territory, but they didnt succeed. Since Nike is the biggest threat to Vans, lets look at the marketing mix that Nike has established. The first component is the product; according to Gwendolyn Cuizon, Nike offers a wide range of shoe, apparel and equipment products (Cuizon). Nike has come to produce athletic apparel and equipment that has been known worldwide. There basically isnt any sport that Nike hasnt produced something for. The reason that Nike is able to accomplish having such a wide brand width is that they set up some separate brand names and manufactures. Nike also sells small amounts of plastic products through Nike IHM, Inc. Bauer Nike Hokey Inc. that manufactures and distributes winter athletic equipment like ice skates, and hockey sticks. Nike has set their product up differently than Vans, by having a massive brand width in basically all the sports out there. Whereas Vans has specifically decided to expand their width to only surf, skate and snow. The next component to Nikes marketing mix is their pricing. Since 1979, Nike has expanded its brand name to where it has a lot more power than other companies. They are considered to be a premium sporting company and therefore their prices are higher than Vans, and many other shoe companies. Nikes prices are targeting more of the upper middle, to upper class, because of the name and quality is much higher than other sport apparel providers. Because Nike decided to price their products at a higher level than Vans, it sets up a different game for each company. Place is the third component to the marketing mix, even though Nike is a major competitor to Vans, their placing strategy is to have their shoes carried in many stores

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across the globe. Most of Nikes shoes are carried in multi-brand stores; however they do still have some exclusive Nike stores as well. Nike sells its product to about 20,000 retail accounts in the U.S. and in almost 200 countries around the world (Cuizon). This product placing is severely higher than Vans; on the other hand, Nike has a larger brand width and therefore their products can fit in many different stores. Whereas Vans, can only place their product in stores that are along the same lines of surf, skate, and snow. The last component to the marketing mix is, Promotion. Nike has some very different views about promotion and how they get their product out there to their customers compared to Vans. The main thing that Nike focuses on is what stores they can place their product in that is easily accessible and fits their customers ideal shopping center. The big thing that Nike is known for is having famous athletes serve as brand ambassadors such as the Brazilian Soccer Team (especially Ronaldino, Renaldo, and Roberto Carlos), Lebron James and Jermane ONeal for basketball, Lance Armstrong for cycling, and Tiger Woods for Golf (Cuizon). Something very interesting that Nike just did was their commercial with Tiger Woods that does not really promote or dismantle their image and their continued sponsorship with Tiger Woods. A lot of people were confused about the point of their commercial, however, Nike made this commercial knowing that people would talk about it, and get their brand talked about. Whether or not that increased sales is not Nikes main concern. They know that just having the idea of Nike in peoples minds will be enough for their next athletic purchase to think about Nike. Nike also has some similar promotions strategies as Vans, by sponsoring athletic events. Nike sponsors several events including Hoop It Up, and The Golden West Invitational. By sponsoring or putting on athletic events like these, helps get their name

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out there and even the athletes participating in the event will most likely purchase or be wearing or using Nike apparel and equipment. Nike, Adidas, and Converse all have different positioning strategies that are specific to their target segment. Nike positions itself around any athletic event. They have many commercials during sporting events. Adidas has a very similar positioning strategy to Nike because both companies are targeting the upper class more so than the lower. Therefore their ads and selling markets are in more expensive stores. On the other hand, Converse shoes are targeting to the middle class to lower middle class and therefore they position themselves in newspaper ads, and ads for stores like Target and Wal-Mart. These companies do more external type positioning, compared to Vans who is based on word of mouth and hosting surf, skate, and snow competitions. There are some competitors out there that are trying to compete with Vans most famous styles of shoe, Vans Authentic. Airwalk is a surf, skate, and snow company that is primarily sold in shoe stores such as Sears and Payless. The main purpose of Airwalk is to provide lower class consumers to be able to have the same style and look as the more priced shoes. The quality is not as great, but the price is set so many can afford them. Keds is one step up from Airwalk, they sell their shoes in the same places as Airwalk and several more places, like Kohls and JC Pennys. Keds is not geared to the sporty segment, however they do have a shoe that is similar that many people purchase because I does look similar but is cheaper than Vans Authentic. Below is a comparison between the three companies. These two companies maybe future competitors because their prices are cheaper. Airwalk has a bigger potential of consumers leaving Vans to

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purchase Airwalk, because they have a very similar target audience. And if price is one of the main factors for consumers they may end up choosing Airwalks.

$19.99

$35.00

$42.00

With the many competitors that are out on the market, Vans can analyze their loyal consumers and their potential consumers to find out why make them choose Vans over other companies. By Vans recognizing their competitors marketing mix, this will help them with their own marketing mix and positioning strategy. If Nikes approach is more commercial, ads, and celebrity based, Vans can analyze how their athletic events compare to using commercials and what marketing strategy works for their target segment.

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Establishment of Objectives

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Objectives
With the following proposed promotion plan, the umbrella objective for Vans is to increase sales by 5% by the end of Q2 2011. To complete this projection there will be three different promotional plans used, that in combination with each other, will allow our 15% goal to be reached.

Objective 1: The first objective to be deployed is to develop a winter concert series similar to what Vans already does in the summer with the Vans Warped Tour. This concert series will be on a much smaller scope in comparison to the summer counterpart. Rather then being an all day festival with over 50 bands playing, it would be scaled back to be a nightlong concert with 7 bands playing. It will still have a diverse range of music so that fans will have the opportunity to hear new music, as well as check out what new products vans is offering with their winter line of apparel. The target market for this objective is fans of the punk/hardcore music movement between the ages of 14 and 24. These are the consumers who are in tune with what is happening in their music scene and are passionate about the bands and artists playing. The expected results from this objective are for sales of the new winter line of Vans apparel to increase by 15% among this demographic of Vans consumers. The outcome for these users is two fold; turn music fans who are not that aware of Vans apparel into first time trial users, as well as encourage repeat buys from consumers who have already purchased Vans apparel products. The winter concert series will be a month and half tour that will hit 30 major cities in the continental United States. It will start January 1, 2011 and run through

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February 20, 2011. This objective will use public relations as the main tool of communication by letting consumers know that Vans is a product that they can choose from.

Objective 2: The second objective that will be deployed is to run commercials during the broadcasting of five winter action sports events. Each event will run two commercials every 45 minutes. This will ensure that viewers are exposed to Vans, but not so much that they are annoyed by the commercials and therefore turned off by the company. There will also be two separate commercials used, to aid in not burning viewers out on a single commercial. The target market for this campaign is those viewers who will be watching the winter action sports programming. The outcome for this campaign is to raise awareness of the Vans brand name by 200% in the winter action sports community.

Objective 3: The third and final objective will be to launch an Artist Series of Vans shoes that will be take the basic Vans Authentic Shoe model and allow artists to design the shoe however the see fit. These shoes will then be sold to consumers, with 10% of the proceeds going to inner school art programs. The target market for this objective is those consumers who are in tune with Vans as a company and also with their creative art side. The expected result of this program is to have sales of artist shoes of 5,000 pairs of shoes by the end of Q2 2011. The outcomes of this objective is to create awareness, as well as

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create first time users, based off of fans of the artist chosen to design the shoe, as well as create repeat usage of Vans shoes.

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Dollar Appropriations

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Here is the individual breakdown of each promotional element and its estimated cost: Objective 1 (costs for days that a concert is performed, 30 days) Rent Venue (includes sound system and security) Pay Bands (10 bands @$500/band) Provide food Busses for Vans Employees Truck for merchandise Daily Pay for Vans Employees (10 employees @ $10/hour, 8 hour day) $5,000 $5,000 $1,000 $700 $700 $800

Total Cost of Objective 1

$396,000

Objective 2 60 Commercial Spots on cable TV @ $50/spot 12 spots/event X 5 events Cost to produce TV ad (2 ads @ $4,000/ad) $8,000 $3,000

Total Cost of Objective 2

$11,000

Objective 3 Artist Pay ($1,000/ artist w/ 3 artists) Donation to art programs (10% of 5,000 shoes @ $65/pair) $3,000 $32,500

Total Cost of Objective 3

$35,500

Total Estimated Cost of Program Elements

$442,500

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As one can see, the largest portion of our marketing budget is going to be going to the concert series. This is also going to be the most difficult and time consuming objective out of the three. The other two will be fairly easy to implement and get off the ground fairly quickly.

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Management and Coordination Of Program Elements

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Mass Media Advertising

In this promotional campaign, the only mass media advertising that is being used is in Objective 2 with the commercials that will be run in select winter action sports events. The main winter action sport event that we will focus on is the Dew Tour. There are three stops on the tour; December 16-19, January 20-23, and February 10-13. All these events will be broadcasted live. Boasting the largest media platform in all of winter action sports, all three stops of the Winter Dew Tour will be televised Live on NBC, simulcast on Verizon V CAST and around the world on Eurosport 2 and Fox Sports Australia, with additional broadcasts on USA Network, MTV2 and Universal HD (Alli Sports). This will be beneficial to us because our ad spots will be getting primetime showing over the course of these three-day events. The other two sport events that we will have our TV spots played in will be determined at a further date. The message of our commercials will be one that embodies the action sports lifestyle; laid back and fun. Since it will be the winter when these programs air, we will gives viewers a look at more of our winter apparel and transfer the idea that Vans does not only sale summer apparel. They will embody snow, skating, and having a good time with friends, as well as giving the idea that our apparel will make you unique and independent.

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Public Relations
With our winter concert series, Public Relations will be the promotional tool. The name of the concert series will be the Vans Winter Tour, keeping it inline with the summer counterpart, the Vans Warped Tour. By keeping Vans in the tour name, it will be associated with the tour every time someone talks about the tour and what bands they are going to see at the concert. Keeping Vans in the consumers mind by way of the tour name, will remind them that, hey maybe they need some new shoes, a new flannel, or a new jacket since the weather is starting to get colder. Throughout the concert, if concertgoers for some reason dont have a band to watch, there will be merchandise tents set up all around the venue with Vans reps that can show consumers the new winter line, as well as provide them with promotional discounts, or just hang out and talk with them and see how they are enjoying their night of music friends, and Vans. As well as employees working merchandise tents, there will also be a team of employees walking around the venue and interacting with fans, taking pictures that will be posted to the website and video testimonials about how good of a time concertgoers are having at the Vans Winter Tours.

Publicity
Publicity will be the promotional tool for Objective 3, the Artist Series Shoes. Vans will write up a press release about their new Artist Series Shoes they are developing, announce the artists they will be collaborating with, as well as announce about the 10% of proceeds that will be going to inner city art programs. Vans will then

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distribute this press release to every major network and business news outlet, as well as to industry news outlets to get the word out about how Vans is helping the community as well as providing limited edition shoes. This free publicity will allow the public to know what Vans is doing with relatively little cost to Vans, other then the donations and paying the artists for their artwork.

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Measurement of Promotional Effectiveness

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Evaluating Objectives
The umbrella objective for Vans is to increase sales by 5% by the end of Q2 of 2011. To evaluate if this goal was met, we need to take sales from the end of Q4 of 2010 and then compare to sales from end of Q2 of 2011. However, we need to take in account normal growth that would occur without our promotional plan. To do this we take an average of the past 4 quarters sales increase percentages, then add it to our 15% and that is the amount of sales that we need to meet our goal. As for our three objectives and evaluating how well they performed, we will need to keep close track of who our customers are and their spending habits. We can develop this information by asking customers for their email and through that we can contact them with surveys as well as getting them to activate an account with our online store. By doing this we will have a better concept and more information on who is buying what of our products and when they are buying them. Another tool that could be used to measure the effectiveness of the campaign is good record keeping. Knowing where your sales are coming from so that you can compare them to future sales and gauge how well a certain promotional plan worked or didnt work for you.

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Expected Results, Projected Income, And Promotion Follow-Up

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Expected Results/ Projected Income

Financial information for Vans is quite hard to come by, however industry experts estimated their revenue last year to be around $750 million (Tschorn). This makes our 5% increase in sales difficult to figure out how much profit that will actually be. However, we can estimate and say that a 5% increase to those sales would translate to an increase of $37.5 million in sales. Our total expenditures for the promotional plan are $442,500; therefore if we were to meet our goal of increasing sales by 5%, our return on investment would be over 8,000%. The only way this would be viable for this marketing plan, is if the tools are in place so that this increase in sales can be traced to one of our three objectives over the two quarters. If we can trace all sales to our promotional plan, then this plan needs to be implemented because it will reap huge rewards for Vans.

Follow-Up
As with any project the best course for action when following up is to make sure you have sufficient data from before the promotional plan, during the promo plan, and after the promo plan has concluded. Using this information it will be possible to analyze and figure out what parts of the promotional plan had holes, what failed, what worked well, and how, overall, all the elements interacted together and what that outcome was. For this particular promotional plan, resources must be in place to determine where each consumer heard about our product, or what pushed them into actually going out and purchasing our product.

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Footnotes
Armour, Stephanie. "USATODAY.com - Generation Y: They've Arrived at Work with a New Attitude." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY, 08 Nov. 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm>.

Brilliant, John. "Footwear Industry Sales Report: Q3 2010." CounterKicks. Agents, 06 Nov 2010. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://counterkicks.com/2010/11/06/footwear-industrysales-report-q3-2010/>.

Combs, Drew. "Vans, Skechers Locked in Legal Fight over Shoe Pattern | Legal Trial & Procedure from AllBusiness.com." Business Resources, Advice and Forms for Large and Small Businesses. D & B Company, 17 Dec. 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-decisions-rulings/8892922-1.html>.

Cuizon, Gwendolyn. "Audit on Nike's Marketing Strategies: The 4Ps - Product, Price, Place and Promotion." Corporate Marketing/Branding. 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://corporate-marketingBranding.suite101.com/article.cfm/audit_on_nikes_marketing_strategies>.

"Dew Tour." Alli Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www.allisports.com/winter-dew-tour/news/winter-dew-tour-announced-2010-11schedule-elevates-to-a-22-foot-superpipe>.

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King, Rachael. "How Companies Use Twitter to Bolster Their Brands - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. 6 Sept. 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2008/tc2008095_320491.htm>.

Manning-Schaffel, Vivian. "Vans Ramped." Brandchannel.com | Always Branding. Always On. 18 Feb. 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://brandcameo.org/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=368>.

Tschorn, Adam. "Vans Shoes: A Happily Checkered Past." LA Times 24 May 2009: Web. 15 Nov 2010. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/24/image/ig-vans24/2>.

Weintraub, Arlene. "BW Online | May 28, 2001 | Vans: Chairman of the Board." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. 28 May 2001. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_22/b3734132.htm>.

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Bibliography
Armour, Stephanie. "USATODAY.com - Generation Y: They've Arrived at Work with a New Attitude." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY, 08 Nov. 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm>.

Brilliant, John. "Footwear Industry Sales Report: Q3 2010." CounterKicks. Agents, 06 Nov 2010. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://counterkicks.com/2010/11/06/footwear-industrysales-report-q3-2010/>.

Combs, Drew. "Vans, Skechers Locked in Legal Fight over Shoe Pattern | Legal Trial & Procedure from AllBusiness.com." Business Resources, Advice and Forms for Large and Small Businesses. D & B Company, 17 Dec. 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-decisions-rulings/8892922-1.html>.

Cuizon, Gwendolyn. "Audit on Nike's Marketing Strategies: The 4Ps - Product, Price, Place and Promotion." Corporate Marketing/Branding. 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://corporate-marketingBranding.suite101.com/article.cfm/audit_on_nikes_marketing_strategies>.

"Dew Tour." Alli Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www.allisports.com/winter-dew-tour/news/winter-dew-tour-announced-2010-11schedule-elevates-to-a-22-foot-superpipe>.

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King, Rachael. "How Companies Use Twitter to Bolster Their Brands - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. 6 Sept. 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2008/tc2008095_320491.htm>.

Manning-Schaffel, Vivian. "Vans Ramped." Brandchannel.com | Always Branding. Always On. 18 Feb. 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://brandcameo.org/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=368>.

Tschorn, Adam. "Vans Shoes: A Happily Checkered Past." LA Times 24 May 2009: Web. 15 Nov 2010. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/24/image/ig-vans24/2>.

Vans website. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.vans.com

Vfcorporation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.vfcorporation.com/

Weintraub, Arlene. "BW Online | May 28, 2001 | Vans: Chairman of the Board." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. 28 May 2001. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_22/b3734132.htm>.

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