On Thursday, American Eagle Outfitters launched the “Live Your Life” back-to-school campaign, targeting Gen Z through a mix of co-creation, omnichannel strategies and surprise activations for back-to-school. The campaign assets feature athletes Coco Gauff and Trevor Lawrence, and actresses Kristine Froseth and Nikki Rodriguez.
For Gauff, the U.S. Open champion and the world’s No. 2 singles tennis player, “Live Your Life” marks her second campaign with American Eagle. In addition, she’ll debut a product collaboration with the brand, dubbed Coco Gauff x American Eagle, on August 15. The collab will feature three tops, a denim skirt, jeans and a denim jacket featuring Gauff’s iconic U.S Open quote, “Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me.” The pieces will sell for $35-$90.
American Eagle has trademarked the tagline “Live Your Life,” in an effort to replicate the success of “Just Do It” for Nike and “My Calvins” for Calvin Klein. The campaign, which will roll out over the next three months, will feature a mix of traditional and digital media, including TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat ads. It will also involve over 200 VIP and influencer creators capturing moments that are important to them, with AE providing the cameras. Participants include actress Amybeth McNulty (7 million Instagram followers), actress AnnaSophia Robb (1 million followers) and actor Christopher Briney (3 million followers). The brand’s socials typically feature about 60% UGC.
In addition, the campaign will include immersive experiences in NYC, guerilla-style marketing with video projections, 3D billboards, and wild postings across the U.S.
Finally, American Eagle will host multiple global activations tied to sport and campus life, which will run beyond the initial three-month campaign period, through next spring. “Live Your Life” marks the largest campaign, based on investment, since CMO Craig Brommers joined the team in 2020.
American Eagle’s back-to-school offerings include high-rise stovepipe jeans, barrel and baggy wide-leg jeans, cargo trousers and graphic sweatshirts for women. For men, there are sweater polos, oversized graphic tees, carpenter and athletic straight jeans, and classic hoodies.
“The idea of human-to-human connection and reconnecting with people and the environment around them was a new insight,” said Brommers. Ahead of the campaign, AE compiled feedback from 760 Gen Zers about what type of brand positioning they wanted to see from the brand. “While Gen Z is heavily engaged with social media, they [have communicated] they’re social creatures who crave real-world interactions. This insight will shape how we launch this brand platform and our marketing efforts in the coming years.”
Brommers emphasized the significance of the campaign’s co-creation aspect, referencing the disposable camera gifting. Popular in the ’90s, disposable cameras have found new relevance among Gen Z over the last couple of years, according to The New York Times.
“While the brand should create inspirational and aspirational content, we’ve seen that real people’s real content performs better,” said Brommers.
He added, “Gen Z is into everything, including television, streaming and music. So we need to represent all modes of communication and content. … We’ve focused on being social-first and digital-first for many years, but what’s inspiring now is the ability to be disruptive and surprising. If you’re not, you won’t capture the attention span of younger generations.”
Use of the “Live Your Life” phrase marks a revival — it was American Eagle’s first tagline, 20 years ago. American Eagle Outfitters reported a first-quarter 2024 net revenue of $1.1 billion, marking a 6% increase compared to the previous year. During this period, store revenue rose by 4%, while digital revenue saw a significant increase of 12% year-on-year.
