Greater than two months after American Eagle’s campaign starring actress Sydney Sweeney ignited a nationwide debate after some perceived it as a eugenics reference, chief advertising officer (CMO) Craig Brommers continues to be navigating the information cycle.
“Simply this final Saturday evening, this was nonetheless within the information. This was on SNL,” he mentioned on stage at ADWEEK Home: Promoting HQ on Thursday. “I can’t consider that something in our promoting advertising world continues to be commanding this quantity of consideration 10 weeks later.”
In a candid dialog with ADWEEK’s chief model and group Officer Jenny Rooney, Brommers shared for the primary time in entrance of a public viewers how he navigated the weeks of debate and discourse sparked by the marketing campaign—and why his method veered from the standard model disaster playbook.
“The aim actually was to not take part in tradition, however to outline tradition,” Brommers mentioned of the marketing campaign. “This has exceeded these wildest desires.”
Inventory surge to backlash
When the marketing campaign launched on a Friday in late June, the preliminary response was overwhelmingly constructive. American Eagle’s stock shot up 25% on the day of the launch, which was introduced with widespread protection throughout monetary, leisure, retail, and advertising press.
By the weekend, the tone had shifted.
“I vividly bear in mind sitting down, having a cup of espresso, and opening LinkedIn and studying actually nasty feedback for the primary time,” Brommers recalled. “It simply stopped me. I used to be like, ‘whoa, the place is that this coming from?’”
Adverse sentiment peaked the next Monday, which Brommers emphasised was the one day in the course of the marketing campaign’s 10-week run when criticism outweighed help.
“Some individuals say this marketing campaign was swamped by negativity. It’s completely not true,” he mentioned.
However because the narrative started to shift, Brommers shortly assembled a small workforce of inside and exterior companions to provide you with a method centered on restraint. “On one hand, we needed to do one thing in a short time, and alternatively, we did nothing,” he mentioned.
