American Eagle is taking a page from its past for the launch of a new brand platform, giving fresh energy to a 20-year-old “Live Your Life” slogan to promote self-expression, inclusion and acceptance. The platform, which debuted Thursday, coincides with the rollout of the brand’s back-to-school campaign.
“Live Your Life” — a phrase trademarked by American Eagle for over a decade — made an appearance in the retailer’s back-to-school marketing in 2012. Today, the slogan is being modernized for Gen Z and will be ingrained in a fall campaign that includes a partnership with 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff. College football appearances, 3D billboards and a collaboration with Life on Film to capture disposable camera footage round out the effort.
“Our intent is that ‘Live Your Life’ will be with us for many, many years to come, so our team really views this as a jumping off point,” said American Eagle Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers. “Back-to-school really is our Super Bowl and we’re spending a lot of money around talent and surprise activations and content creation to cut through initially.”
The revival of “Live Your Life” was inspired by consumer research across Gen Alpha, millennials and the retailer’s target Gen Z audience that sought to uncover how the generations regard American Eagle and what they look for in a clothing brand. Among the findings was the sentiment that the retailer is loyal to values like self-expression. Respondents more broadly also indicated a hunger for human connection and real experiences.
American Eagle is leaning into both of those insights with “Live Your Life,” Brommers said, noting his belief that “iconic brands run toward who they are.”
“Just like ‘Just Do It’ for Nike or ‘My Calvin’s’ from Calvin Klein or even ‘Aerie Real,’ there’s just some things that make sense,” said Brommers.
New energy, same denim
American Eagle’s fall campaign is headlined by tennis star Gauff, who is set to compete in the Paris Olympics, along with Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and actors Kristine Froseth and Nikki Rodriguez, who star in Gen Z-focused series “The Buccaneers” and “My Life with the Walter Boys,” respectively. Through its tie-up with Gauff, the retailer will unveil a Coco Gauff x American Eagle collaboration on Aug. 15 that includes a nod to the athlete’s iconic U.S. Open quote, “Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me.”
Talent featured in the retailer’s campaign, who will appear in digital, in-store, social and out-of-home ads, were selected to better target the “Live Your Life” mantra at Gen Z. Brommers described the group as the “hustle generation.”
“These are multi-hyphenated individuals who really encapsulate Gen Z,” the exec said. “They’re athletes, they’re activists, they’re communicators, they’re business people.”
The ambassadors also satisfy what the marketer describes as American Eagle’s “passion pillars,” or the key interests of Gen Z, which include categories like gaming, social media, sports and community impact. The retailer regularly leverages a customer panel consisting of around 2,000 people aged 15 to 25 to gather insights that drive culturally relevant marketing. A number of marketing efforts have been inspired by the panel, like last year’s tie-up with Amazon Prime series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
“We have the best damn jeans out there and all the market share data would showcase that, but I don’t think you can be competing at the level we’re competing at just on the rational, I think you actually do have to compete on the emotional as well.”
Craig Brommers
CMO, American Eagle
American Eagle’s latest move comes at a high point for the retailer, which reported record first-quarter revenue of $1.1 billion. The back-to-school season is a major opportunity for the brand to keep momentum rolling, though spending for the period is expected to fall slightly from $31.9 billion last year to $31.3 billion in 2024, according to Deloitte. Other forecasts yield a sunnier outlook — JLL expects spending to surge nearly 22% — providing Brommers a sense of hopefulness.
“One thing that has been resilient over the years is that parents will, in fact, help their kids and put them first, so I think we’re optimistic about this back-to-school season,” the exec said.
Other elements of the back-to-school push include pop-ups at college football games to tap into Gen Z’s sports fixation. American Eagle’s partnership with Lawrence represents the first time the brand has had an NFL star fronting one of its campaigns.
Emotional, not just rational
To engage Gen Z’s appreciation for self-expression and authenticity — a tactic adopted by other marketers this season — American Eagle has teamed with Life on Film and over 200 people, including actors AnnaSophia Robb, Chris Briney and Jonathan Daviss, to capture disposable camera footage showcasing how they live their lives. The footage will be edited into a video montage that will be shared across both the talent and the brand’s social media channels, representing a more candid form of content than the brand usually puts forward in its back-to-school marketing, Brommers explained.
“I think that’s why I’m so excited by this campaign and how it differs from things we’ve done in the past,” Brommers said. “If you fast forward 30 days, if you fast forward 60 days, I’m not sure where we will be with this campaign because we really want our customers to explore what ‘Live Your Life’ means to them, and we’re going to follow them where they help take this campaign.”
Additional guerrilla-style marketing, like custom videos projected on American Eagle stores, invites customers to “be a part of the campaign,” though full details are yet to be revealed. Three-dimensional billboards in markets like New York will complement a slate of outdoor activations that are intended to blow last year’s back-to-school efforts — described at the time as the brand’s largest outdoor push since the pandemic — out of the water.
“We’ve got some really crazy innovative things coming up in the outdoor space,” Brommers said. “I think we’re in the entertainment business as much as we’re in the retail business, so we should be challenging ourselves to be as entertaining as possible.”
The array of channels American Eagle is activating symbolizes the diverse interests of Gen Z, Brommers explained, while the nods to self-expression and inclusion are meant to strengthen its connection with consumers on an emotional level. That focus has helped the retailer stay in business for nearly five decades.
“We have the best damn jeans out there and all the market share data would showcase that, but I don’t think you can be competing at the level we’re competing at just on the rational,” Brommers said. “I think you actually do have to compete on the emotional as well.”
