Why Hollister made its first music video for graduation season

Anyone who shopped at Hollister in the 2000s remembers that the ambience—from the live projections of Huntington Beach to the dim lighting to the pop-punk playlists—was a key part of the shopping experience.

Hollister 20-plus years later offers a different, more brightly lit retail experience, but the brand remains committed to making music a key part of its brand identity—even if it’s not the emo music millennials may remember. In 2024, the brand hosted its first Feel Good Fest music festival, which was headlined by Benson Boone. More recently, Hollister produced and released its first-ever music video, with singer Gigi Perez singing a jangly cover of Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” The video, which features scenes from a high school, is aimed at the brand’s Gen Z audience and specifically those about to graduate.

“We really wanted to create a campaign that crystallized around that time of their life and laddered down into all the products that we have to support them,” Joanna Ewing, SVP of creative marketing at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., told us.

Experimenting with a music video offered Hollister a way to test out longer-form content and “double down” on the emotional resonance and engagement from Feel Good Fest, Ewing said. The music video has racked up more than 340,000 views in its first week.

We spoke with Ewing about the campaign and how Hollister is evolving its music-driven marketing.

In the end, it’s right

While other retailers like Gap have also recently produced music videos, Ewing insists that Hollister did not take inspiration from other brands when coming up with the idea for this campaign.

“We have for quite some time been working with artists and musicians in a really authentic way,” she said. “Hollister has always had music, be it in the stores or CDs back in the day, as a really big pillar of how we bring the brand to life.”

Hollister has been leaning into its history, including with a Y2K capsule collection last year. While a cover of “Good Riddance,” which was released in 1997, could be considered a continuation of that strategy, Ewing clarified that this new campaign isn’t meant to be a throwback.

“While nostalgia is important, it’s more about touching on it but not making it the entire brand,” she said. “Instead, what can we do that’s a bit timeless or really contemporary to balance that out?”

At Feel Good Fest, she said, Hollister honed an ability to marry digital activations with experimental marketing, which this campaign builds on. The experimental component of the campaign can be seen in select stores where the music video will play alongside other campaign assets. Online, it will be promoted using behind-the scenes and product-related content from brand fans and creators. Ultimately, Ewing said, the goal is to drive engagement, brand love, and revenue.

When it came to promoting specific products in the music video, Ewing said Perez and the high school seniors who were recruited in part from the brand’s Style Hub creator collective and featured in the video were able to choose their outfits in accordance with their personal taste. There was particular care taken to make sure that the video didn’t feel like a commercial, she said.

“You’re asking to create a piece of [customers’] culture and you want to do that in a way that honors the brand, of course, but also naturally and seamlessly fits into what they already celebrate,” she said.

Ewing said she hopes this video leaves a lasting impact on those graduating this year and that the campaign is successful enough to warrant similar campaigns in the future.

“While platforms come and go and customer journeys flip, some things are timeless,” she said. “Coming of age is one of those things, and we really feel very privileged to be able to speak to the customer during that time in their life.”