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Wafflin' - Vans Holiday Campaign

Overview
The Vans holiday campaign is one of the brand's most important moments of the year. Instead of leaning on traditional promotional storytelling, we asked a different question: what if shopping felt like playing?

We built a browser-based video game that wove product discovery and purchase directly into gameplay. What started as a digital activation grew into an omni-channel experience that included custom arcade cabinets in Vans retail stores, a connected loyalty giveaway, and a campaign that gave the brand a genuinely fun holiday presence across digital and physical channels.

My Role
I led concept, experience strategy, and cross-channel integration across digital, retail, and loyalty. That meant partnering with engineering on the game mechanics, working with retail operations on the in-store execution, and coordinating with an external fabrication vendor to build and install the arcade cabinets, while making sure everything connected back to conversion and loyalty sign-ups.

The Approach
We didn't want the product to feel like an interruption. So instead of showing holiday items in a banner or a carousel, we built them into the game itself. Top products became power-ups during gameplay. When a session ended, those same items surfaced with a direct add-to-cart option.

The bridge from playing to buying felt natural because it was built that way from the start, not added on at the end.
 

in-store activation
Taking the game into retail meant building something physical from scratch. We partnered with a fabrication vendor to design and build custom arcade cabinets running the game, installed in select Vans stores including flagship locations.

At our NYC 5th Avenue store we set up two large-format screens with iPad controllers, turning the game into a head-to-head competition on the floor. People saw the large screens from the street and came into the store to watch and play. Foot traffic saw signficant increases during the campaign. The cabinets were connected to the Vans Family loyalty program, turning in-store play into sign-ups.

impact
• Double-digit increase in engagement and conversion versus prior holiday campaigns
• Significant lift in Vans Family loyalty program sign-ups
• Connected web, retail, and CRM into a single campaign ecosystem
• Built a repeatable framework for future campaigns that blend digital and physical