Earlier than Sydney Sweeney and her genes/denims got here alongside, American Eagle CMO Craig Brommers thought he’d already skilled probably the most harrowing model second of his skilled profession.
A 25-year veteran of the business, he was head of promoting at Speedo in the course of the years when Michael Phelps dominated swimming on the Olympics: Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004 — then the record-breaking eight gold medals on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The distinction? Speedo.
“That 2008 Beijing Olympics marketing campaign was extremely intense,” he recalled on Adspeak, the ADWEEK business podcast hosted by editor in chief Ryan Joe. “We developed a full-body swimsuit known as the LZR Racer with NASA, and this go well with led to all kinds of information being damaged.”
The expertise was deeply controversial, dominating information headlines around the globe. Finally, the fits had been banned. Brommers went on to work at Abercrombie & Fitch and Hole, touchdown at AE in 2020. Then got here the summer time of Sydney Sweeney.
Brommers shared his expertise of being within the eye of the media hurricane and whether or not the marketing campaign performed out the best way he anticipated.
This transcript has been edited for readability and house.
Why denim?
“So goes denims, so goes American Eagle. As you might bear in mind, ‘23 into ‘24, denim was having a second in a really massive approach. And there have been so many vogue manufacturers up and down the panorama that had been taking part. And we actually felt like we wanted to guarantee that we recaptured folks’s creativeness.”
Why Sydney Sweeney?
Brommers calls the back-to-school buying season the Tremendous Bowl of denim. “The transient was very clear: Let’s get the It Lady of 2025. Each key American retailer is bringing their A sport for this specific interval, and we wished to stage up and convey one of the best sport that American Eagle has ever introduced. She was excellent for this American Eagle marketing campaign as a result of she is this excellent mixture of aspiration and on a regular basis, one thing that actually matches our model.”
The expectations:
“We knew that this was a extra provocative marketing campaign than American Eagle had finished in latest historical past. And that may additionally get folks speaking. For the primary few days, it was actually a celebratory temper across the marketing campaign. Then there have been some absurd claims in regards to the marketing campaign. I really felt like I used to be residing in alternate universes as a result of what I used to be seeing and listening to on social media, and to some [extent] the mainstream media, was very completely different than the enterprise and buyer efficiency metrics.”
The takeaway:
“I actually suppose social media noise is one factor, however buyer efficiency is admittedly what you have to be basing your choices on. So this isn’t about feelings, it’s about information and knowledge. And due to that, we had been in a position to confidently execute this marketing campaign. I feel that ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Nice Denims’ is the prime instance that advertising and marketing works. On this case, advertising and marketing drove tradition, product gross sales, inventory worth.”
What’s subsequent?
“The [marketing] mandate is obvious: We’ve bought to proceed to drive buzz and we’ve bought to proceed to drive the enterprise. From a driving the thrill perspective, I’ve the permission to make massive swings. We now have the swagger to take massive swings, and also you’re going to see that with expertise, with music, with sports activities, with experiences as nicely.”
Would you do something in a different way?
“I actually imagine issues occur for a motive. You possibly can inform your self you’re managing a disaster, or you’ll be able to inform your self you might be optimizing a chance, and we selected the latter, and that has been the mindset that we’ll proceed to have.”
Greatest lesson?
“The primary one is social media noise is intense, and it’s onerous to not pay attention and to not react, however typically not doing something is definitely the neatest technique potential. And simply taking a look at factual, correct, real-time knowledge and making choices based mostly on that’s far more vital than the swirl of social media.”
True partnership:
“Once you determine to companion with boldface expertise, it’s a must to stay as much as the essence of what which means. It’s a partnership. In our particular case, Sydney Sweeney caught with us. We caught together with her. And due to that, I feel that it allowed each manufacturers to return out of this expertise even stronger.”
Would you do it once more?
“The outcomes communicate for themselves. I receives a commission to ship shareholder worth. I receives a commission to create memorable experiences for our clients. I get to mirror the values of our model and our company. And I feel that these campaigns [with Sweeney and Travis Kelce] each did that.”
