Company hypegrowth in times of the pandemic with fearless communications | Perspectives with Karlijn Marchildon (Van Moof)
Perspectives with Karlijn Marchildon
Head of Communications & PR at Van Moof
This week's guest is getting the next billion on bikes as the global Head of Communications & PR at VanMoof. Karlijn Marchildon doesn’t shy away from a challenge and guided the recent hypergrowth of the company during the turbulent period of Covid-19. Throughout our conversation, it is her willingness to do things that scare her, to take a chance and leap into the unknown, that we admire - an asset that characterised her move from agency to brand almost five years ago:
“If you’re actually at a brand, you have to stick around to see if that idea worked or the strategy actually paid off. It terrified me. So I made the move.”
Since then, Karlijn has led a number of campaigns for VanMoof’s in-house PR team that did pay off, proving that embracing change can lead to wonderful new horizons. The ideal vision she’s aiming for? Urban environments that are green and spacious, designed for people and not for cars. But there is a sense of David and Goliath to what VanMoof are doing, and Karlijn is very aware that changing car culture is something that needs to be approached carefully and collaboratively: “For the bicycle industry itself, we're all allies, we're all up against the challenge to change behaviour.”
But how can any brand bring about a behavioural shift, and how is VanMoof doing this?
“I think it’s changing the mindset of people. Two wheels at a time.”
VanMoof is helping engineer change and isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers while Karlijn leads the charge. She’s overcome impostor syndrome a couple of times, rising to challenges like pivoting strategies last minute, spinning controversy into the positive press, and learning to be comfortable with what can seem a weighty title. We touch upon how her experience as a UN Youth Ambassador may have primed her for this kind of role, teaching her the importance of speaking up. Whether it be a revolutionary bike brand claiming space in the car industry, or someone pushing insecurities aside in a ‘room full of important-looking men’ to vouch for themselves.
“The whole lesson or theme for me has been standing your ground and then finding your flavour in that… It doesn’t matter how inexperienced you feel, or how unimportant, or uneducated or whatever. You still have a story to tell, you still can speak up.”
Our main takeaway is that, in order to make the changes you want to see in yourself and in the world, you can’t shy away from the challenges. Listen to the full podcast to see how Karlijn is riding the e-bike revolution into a greener, brighter future.