American Eagle is betting that Sydney Sweeney’s good genes will assist it promote extra denims this fall to cost-conscious shoppers.
“Sydney Sweeney Has Nice Denims,” which launched on Wednesday, July 23, is the denim and clothes retailer’s greatest marketing campaign to-date, showcasing 50 new types.
Sweeney is a big funding herself, however the model is matching her star energy with activations in Occasions Sq. in New York Metropolis and on the Exposhere on the Sphere in Las Vegas, in addition to with media buys throughout CTV, Snapchat, and BeReal. The work features a 29-story 3D billboard in Occasions Sq. that has Sweeney waving, pointing, and laughing, in addition to 360-degree video of Sweeney for the Exposphere.
American Eagle declined to share precisely how a lot it’s investing within the marketing campaign, however chief advertising and marketing officer (CMO) Craig Brommers stated the media purchase was “considerably extra” than previous campaigns.
The autumn season is a giant advertising and marketing second for American Eagle, forward of back-to-school buying and fall wardrobe refreshes—and that burden is much more intense this yr, Brommers stated. The Sweeney marketing campaign comes after a tough begin to the yr for American Eagle, which reported a $68 million adjusted working loss within the first quarter due to the affect of tariffs, product misses, and a chilly spring.
“The stress is on much more due to the unsure financial surroundings that we’re navigating,” he advised ADWEEK.
Denim was one class that remained sturdy, nonetheless, and the autumn marketing campaign doubles down on its enduring attraction to customers forward of the largest denim promoting interval of the yr. American Eagle analysis additionally discovered that when prospects are feeling unsure and cost-conscious—like they’re now—they’ll nonetheless be motivated to buy.
Accessible however Elevated
Sweeney is the newest Gen Z famous person to entrance American Eagle’s fall marketing campaign. The model has labored prior to now with Coco Gauff, Addison Rae, and Jenna Ortega for its greatest annual advertising and marketing push.
Her attract is just like what American Eagle sees because the attraction of its denim—accessible however elevated—and the marketing campaign performs with that dichotomy by pairing a customized strategy to social with the flashy out-of-home artistic.
“There’s something so easy about American Eagle—it’s the proper steadiness of being put-together however nonetheless feeling like your self,” stated Sweeney in a press launch.
To play up her relatability, a Snapchat integration will ship messages from Sweeney to customers of the app—which Brommers considers essentially the most coveted actual property for Gen Z eyeballs—the place she talks about her denims. And for the primary time ever, it’s promoting on BeReal, the place it’s going to intention to create a equally customized expertise.
“She’s somebody Gen Z seems like they could possibly be associates with,” Brommers added.
Whereas American Eagle sometimes casts female and male expertise for its fall marketing campaign, Sweeney will pose in each males’s and ladies’s types and have in males’s home windows and denims sections—a primary for the model.
“Sydney is so large and cuts throughout genders,” stated Brommers. “It motivated us to do one thing totally different and strategy this season in a contemporary method.”
