American Eagle is launching its most expensive ad campaign to date, and it’s putting actor Sydney Sweeney front and center.
The campaign, which launches today, will run across social media, CTV, and OOH placements in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and Las Vegas through the fall, according to CMO Craig Brommers, who said he was nothing short of ecstatic about the scale of this campaign.
“Sydney is the biggest get in the history of American Eagle,” he told us.
The retail industry is in a tough spot right now, with customers showing more spending caution than usual amid tariff uncertainty and other unfavorable economic conditions. In its most recent earnings, American Eagle reported a 5% drop in revenue with a 5% drop anticipated in the following quarter, too; the company, like many other retailers, pulled its full-year financial guidance.
But Brommers told us that American Eagle is willing to make a big bet on Sweeney in hopes of grabbing the attention of Gen Z and millennial customers new and old to help boost sales.
“With Sydney, we want people to either reconsider and reengage with us or look at us in a new light and begin to shop the brand,” he said.
Ticking every box
According to Brommers, Sweeney, who has broken through with roles in shows like Euphoria and The White Lotus, has a cross-demo appeal that made her the right spokesperson for American Eagle’s spendiest campaign yet.
“If we were going to cast a bold-face name in this campaign, we needed someone that didn’t feel too young, but obviously someone that didn’t feel too mature as well,” he said. “Sydney is that sweet spot.”
Sweeney has fans across genders, and the brand purposefully photographed her in men’s jeans featuring “clever, even provocative language” to display in the men’s sections, Brommers said. Visitors to American Eagle’s more than 800 stores nationwide can expect to be greeted with pictures of Sweeney and the tagline, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
“It’s going to be super interesting to see [men’s] reaction to Sydney, as much as the aspirational reaction that Sydney has for her female fans,” Brommers said.
There have been some hints that a deal was in the works. In the months leading up to the campaign launch, Sweeney has publicly discussed her interest in American Eagle and has worn the brand’s jeans while doing brand campaigns for non-apparel partners, including for ice cream brand Baskin-Robbins. Brommers said those name-drops were not contractual, but have helped to establish a sense of realness around the partnership.
“When it’s worked for us, it’s because it feels authentic [that] that person, that athlete, that celebrity really does wear American Eagle,” he said. “Our audience has a very high bullshit meter, and they’ll call bullshit if it doesn’t feel right.”
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While Brommers said that American Eagle has jeans category exclusivity with Sweeney, the actor has become somewhat of a brand deal darling in recent years, repping Dr. Squatch soap, HeyDude shoes, Bai beverages, Laneige skin care, Kérastase hair care, Parade intimates, and luxury fashion brand Miu Miu, to name a few. She’s also reportedly building a lingerie brand of her own.
Despite her wide range of brand work, Brommers said he isn’t worried about American Eagle’s campaign looking like just another deal for Sweeney, noting that younger consumers tend to support their favorite stars having brand partnerships, so long as it feels natural.
“You don’t build something lasting if you are playing a cash grab,” he said. “And we definitely did not feel like that at all with this relationship.”
Go big and go home
The campaign is timed around the back-to-school period, which Brommers described as American Eagle’s Super Bowl, and will roll out over the course of the next few months. The bulk of ad spend, he said, will be going toward paid social, with first-time tactics from the brand that include direct messages from Sweeney on Snap Stories, a broadcast channel on Instagram, and a paid campaign on BeReal. American Eagle is also investing in high-impact OOH placements, like a 20-story, 3D billboard in Times Square and 360-degree content designed for the Las Vegas Sphere.
“We really wanted to cut through in culture,” Brommers said. “I think that will signify to our audience that this is something different, unique, special, and a big moment for us.”
As part of the campaign, American Eagle will also invest more in CTV than it has in the past, in addition to sponsoring Seasons 1 and 2 of Euphoria on HBO Max. Overall, Brommers said the brand is going for shock value in its large-scale placements, while also playing on consumers’ personal connections with Sweeney and American Eagle more broadly.
Perhaps the most personal element of the campaign is the hero Sydney Jean, which was designed by Sweeney and her stylist Molly Dickson and feature a butterfly, which Brommers noted is a symbol of domestic violence awareness—an element inspired by Sweeney’s upcoming role as boxer Christy Martin in the biopic Christy. Net proceeds from sales of the jeans will be donated to the Crisis Text Line, a counseling service that offers 24/7 mental health support, according to the company.
“Even if it’s a heavier topic like this one, we really want talent to express themselves,” Brommers said. “That normally hits a nerve with our audience as well.”