The Marketing Magic Behind Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle Campaign

In the week after American Eagle dropped its ad featuring Sydney Sweeney via New York City’s Times Square, its stock leapt by 18 percent.

While pop culture rarely distracts from business fundamentals on Wall Street, this campaign certainly struck a chord, with retail investors chiming in on Reddit threads about Sweeney’s undeniable sex appeal. Other observers questioned whether a brand targeting teens and tweens should lean into such overt sexiness in its marketing.

But whether onlookers were intrigued or offended by the racy nature of the ads, Sweeney has no doubt driven much-needed attention to the retailer, which has struggled to deliver compelling assortments in recent seasons. In May, it withdrew its annual forecast in light of macroeconomic uncertainties.

“There’s a consumer hunger for more risqué, bold campaigns, especially after a long period where brands were very risk-averse,” said Rebecca Rom-Frank, senior marketing strategist at insights firm WGSN. “[American Eagle] has figured out a way to make this work by partnering with Sydney,” she added.

Sweeney has proven to be a lightning rod for brand marketing in recent months. In May, she was the star of another viral campaign for men’s soap brand Dr. Squatch, with which she collaborated on a new product called “Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss.” Industry insiders said the stunt helped Dr. Squatch get acquired by Unilever for $1.5 billion in the following month.

American Eagle’s campaign, called “Sydney Sweeney Has Good Jeans,” has achieved a more balanced approach. While leaning into the actress’s trademark seductiveness, the denim campaign also highlights her sense of humour with videos of the actress “auditioning” for the ad, driving a vintage car and making puns directly to the camera. It’s this self-aware charm that’s succeeded in resonating with American Eagle’s young shoppers, said the retailer’s chief marketing officer Craig Brommers.

By working with the star ahead of her appearance in the highly anticipated third season of “Euphoria,” the campaign is also critical as part of a wider strategy in driving cultural relevance among American Eagle’s key Gen Z demographic, aligning the brand with a sense of relatability and nostalgic Americana.

“[We’re] really trying to play into the duality of Sydney Sweeney, of [an] accessible girl next door … to someone that’s defining style and defining culture,” said Brommers.

The Sweeney campaign comes on the heels of recent partnerships with tennis player Coco Gauff and “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega as American Eagle further establishes itself as an “entertainment destination,” said Rom-Frank. It has also partnered with TV series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”

As part of its most recent campaign, Sweeney created a denim style, the “Sydney Jean,” riffing on American Eagle’s “Dreamy Drape” jeans. The piece is embroidered with a butterfly on the back pocket to highlight domestic violence awareness, and 100 percent of proceeds from the style go towards the Crisis Text Line, a cause of Sweeney’s choosing.

The retailer also partnered directly with her personal stylist, Molly Dickson, for the campaign — both Sweeney and Dickson have their own “edit” of the collection on the American Eagle website.

In rolling out the campaign, American Eagle has several activations planned over the course of the next four weeks, which Brommers referred to as the retailer’s “Super Bowl” season as shoppers prepare for back-to-school, during which time it sells a pair of jeans every fifty seconds. Not only does it hope to continue to engage its core Gen-Z demographic but the retailer also aims to acquire new customers both among Gen-Z and flanker demographics, including Gen Alpha and Millennials.

“We have to programme these campaigns as if we are programming as an entertainment company,” said Brommers.