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Gen-Z Media Opps: American Eagle launches new campaign, tests interactive fitting rooms

Update: In its latest effort, According to CMO and marketing EVP Kyle Andrew, the creative's goal was to highlight the individualistic, creative and inspiring nature of this particular generation. Andrew also wants the campaign to promote AE's jeans. It has rolled out across various digital and social media channels.

AE also recently teamed up with Aila Technologies on interactive fitting rooms that are being tested in flagship stores in cities like Boston and San Francisco. Among other functions, the program allows customers to request different sizes and keep a total of items they plan to purchase.

The company's target demographic has been Gen-Z (slight female skew) for a while. The company's top spending period is typically Q3-Q4. It invests in digital, search, outdoor, experiential, print and radio.

Digital spend has declined, but SG&A expenses have grown to drive e-Commerce. Specifically, SG&A increased from $217 million to $248 million for the 13 weeks ended November 3 and increased from $616 million to $693 million for the 39 weeks ended November 3, according to AE's most recent 10-Q. 

Within the past year, Adbeat reports that the retailer has spent $639,400 on digital display placed mostly through BingAds Content (48%) and Media Innovation Group (37%) networks on destinations including yahoo.com, bustle.com, youtube.com, romper.com and amazon.com. This amount decreased significantly from the $3.5 million spent during the previous year.

Agency & martech readers - Olson have handled media and creative work since 2012 and 2014, respectively. Since these relationships have lasted so much longer than average agency tenure (3 to 4 years), it wouldn't hurt to reach out. Agencies with digital, sponsorship and experiential expertise will have an advantage.

Below was originally published on 12/14:

previously reported they wanted to increase customer engagement through digital, loyalty programs, elevated in-store experiences, body positivity and youth empowerment and diversity.

Execs also disclosed they were improving their omni-channel (e-Commerce) efforts. They launched a new digital call center and automated their distribution facility. They have plans to release an updated digital platform next year.

These efforts have resulted in spend increases: SG&A expenses increased from $2.2 million to $2.5 million for the 13 weeks ended November 3 and increased from $6.1 million to $7 million for the 39 weeks ended November 3. These increases will continue since execs reported they were investing an additional $10 million in advertising during Q4.

I would also expect the increases to continue because AE promoted Kristen D'Arcy from head of performance marketing & media to VP of integrated marketing & media (November). It did, however, lose senior manager of digital marketing Candice Shamrock, who left in November to become senior manager of global digital marketing & demand generation at SAP.

With spend increasing, sellers should reach out. Look for revenue tied to top spending periods Q3 (back-to-school) and Q4 (holiday season), as well as new products. The spend shifts are meant to help them find authentic ways to reach younger consumers (Gen-Z; female skew), so those with high reach among that demo will have the advantage.

Kantar reports a H1 2018 spend consisting of digital ($50,979), search ($63,033), out-of-home ($375,000), print ($14,987) and radio ($2,350). This is an increase from H1 2017, which saw a spend of $436,879 allocated across digital ($15,569), search ($243,759), out-of-home ($163,901) and print ($13,650). Spend for all of 2017 totaled $1.4 million, a decrease from the $10.4 million spent in 2016.

Adbeat reports digital display spend across the last 12 months totaled $1.3M and was placed primarily via direct (48%), BingAds Content (23%) and Media Innovation Group (15%) onto sites like ranker.com, yahoo.com, bustle.com, vice.com and romper.com. Ads over the last 24 months totaled $4.3M and were placed primarily via MediaMath (35%), direct (33%) and Google Search Partners (9%) onto sites like bustle.com, ranker.com, yahoo.com, vice.com and ebay.com.

Agency & martech readers -- Olson has been on creative since 2014. As both of these agencies are past average agency tenure (3 to 4 years), there may be an opportunity to secure work. Focus on helping them create authenticity with digital, sponsorship and experiential channels.