From bearded men to skaters. Kristin Harrer, since June 2019 the marketing director of
Dollar Shave Club, a brand specialising in men’s grooming products, has been appointed global chief marketing officer (CMO) of Vans.
Harrer's mission within the brand owned by US group VF Corp. will be to oversee marketing strategy and operations in the various regions where Vans, a brand that was targeting an annual revenue of $4 billion prior to the pandemic, is currently distributed. She will also have to join up the narratives of the brand’s streetwear products with the world of board sports.
Harrer reports to Doug Palladini, global brand president at Vans. “As we continue to accelerate our digital transformative thinking, Kristin will spearhead our brand’s ability to connect with our global consumer base through the creation of meaningful and authentic consumer touchpoints,” said Palladini.
Harrer has a demonstrated ability to build consistent narratives centred around a brand's identity. She was at Nike between 2011 and 2015, and at the 2014 Football World Cup she masterminded the sports giant’s ‘Risk Everything’ campaign. She was also involved in the US launch of nine different generations of Samsung smartphones, having worked at the Korean group between 2015 and 2019.
In 2019, she was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 50 CMOs that were redefining the boundaries of their profession.