This story was originally part of the 2025 Glossy 50 feature. Click here to see all of this year’s honorees.
American Eagle dominated the fashion conversation this year — from the Sydney Sweeney jeans campaign that ignited a weeks-long debate (though references are still rippling through American popular culture today) to the collaboration with Travis Kelce, announced just after his engagement to Taylor Swift.
Craig Brommers, American Eagle’s CMO, put it this way: “I’m most proud that we didn’t just participate in culture in 2025, we defined it.”
He described the Sydney Sweeney campaign as “a great example of marketing working.” Going in, the pitch was simple: American Eagle wanted to work with the “it” girl of 2025 to make the “it” denim campaign of 2025. The campaign, in which Sydney Sweeney jokes about her “great jeans,” drew criticism for associating “good genes” with a white woman.
“We had a one-two-three punch in 2025,” Brommers said. “It actually started back in July with a [product] collaboration between us and ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty,’ which was a streaming behemoth. Then it was Sydney after that, and then Travis right after that — the day after their engagement. I knew each would be very relevant, but did I know just how big each one would get? The answer is no.”
Fashion brands often say they want to be part of everyday cultural conversation. For its part, American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney campaign generated over 40 billion impressions and attracted over 700,000 new customers to the brand, according to Brommers.
“What I learned through this experience is you have to take the big bets at big moments,” Brommers said. “You can’t be generic. The biggest risk in marketing these days is being boring. We’ve been conditioned as marketers to always do the ‘right things,’ but then we’re creating marketing campaigns that become generic wallpaper. Sydney and Travis were big bets — differentiated and unexpected.”
Brommers described 2025 as a reset for American Eagle, based on the brand’s efforts to regain the dominant cultural presence it held in the 2000s and 2010s. And the big bets on marketing, Brommers said, served to set a new tone for the brand going forward. In 2026, Brommers said he wants to continue the momentum the team has built this year.
“Right now, everyone is watching to see what we’ll do next,” he said.
One target: the Summer Olympics happening in the U.S. in 2028. It’s the first time the Summer Olympics have been held in the U.S. since 1996, and American Eagle is already working on campaigns tied to the games.
But, despite all the excitement surrounding the brand’s big marketing moments, Brommers said, ultimately, his job is about results, not just buzz. American Eagle’s revenue in the quarter ending November 1 increased by 6% year over year to a record $1.4 billion.
“The most successful modern campaigns connect the dots of the marketing funnel,” Brommers said. “Most people want to talk about the exciting parts: the campaigns, the talent. It is exciting, but I’m self-aware. I’m not in the CMO seat for long unless I’m driving traffic and revenue and growth.”
