Case Study 2 AEO - Grade: A+ PDF

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This is a case study I did over American Eagle Outfitters and their digital and social media marketing efforts....

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Miller 1 Hope Miller MKTG 4322 Randall 15 June 2021 Case Study 2: AEO From its humble beginning in 1977, American Eagle Outfitters Inc. has grown to be one of the most widely known clothing and accessory brands among teens and young adults around the world. They design, manufacture, market, and retail their own brands, which consist of American Eagle and Aerie, to their more than 1,000 stores in 13 countries. Of the two separate brands, American Eagle retails trendy clothing for men and women that also speak to their individuality, while Aerie is more known for their women’s clothing such as activewear, swimwear, bras, underwear, and more. 2012 was a great year for American Eagle Outfitters Inc. They saw an 11% increase in revenue, setting a record of $3.5 billion for the year, with an increase in sales for both American Eagle and Aerie. AE Direct, AEO’s online business, also had a 25% increase in sales in 2012. Although 2012 was successful for American Eagle Outfitters, they wanted to ensure continued success for their brands. American Eagle Outfitters is active on a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Their social media marketing team is responsible for the upkeep of these accounts, responding to customers, and posting engaging content to get customers to purchase more products. Social media campaigns have been known to create a

Miller 2 buzz about a product or brand, and in 2013, AEO executives were presented with an intriguing idea for a social media campaign. The “Skinny Skinny” campaign was proposed by IAC’s CollegeHumor and AEO’s global advertising agency, Arnold Worldwide, as an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank. The campaign consisted of four phases. First, they produced a commercial for the Skinny Skinny jeans which looked like a typical AEO ad but showed that something about the jeans does not look normal, and that they almost looked painted on. In their product announcement on Twitter, American Eagle stated that “it’s our skinniest jean fit yet & so comfy it’s like you’re wearing nothing at all.” In the second phase, they had the Skinny Skinny jeans appear on the website, but when a customer went to purchase the cans of paint, they were told that the product was out of stock, and they could sign up with their email address for updates on future availability. The third phase consisted of emailing all the customers who had provided their email address during the second phase for updates about the product and giving them a coupon to purchase real jeans from American Eagle. In the fourth phase, on April 1, 2013—April Fool’s Day—they revealed that the Skinny Skinny jeans were a joke on every platform, showing videos of people “trying on” the jeans in a store and the humorous reactions of real customers that were shopping there. AEO had to make the decision of whether or not to go ahead with the campaign. They had concerns that they might find themselves in trouble because of people viewing the campaign as overly provocative, but on the other hand, this could be a way for AEO to cut through the competition and show that they are edgy while also creating buzz about the product and company. Ultimately, they decided to go ahead with the campaign, launching the 30-second teaser ad in early March 2013. The humorous ad captured everyone’s attention and established American Eagle Outfitters as a bold and innovative brand, even if it wasn’t real, and went viral

Miller 3 online. American Eagle was pleasantly surprised with the feedback of their customers. Quickly after the ad aired and emails were sent to their customer base, their page views surged, website traffic increased, and the campaign got numerous media mentions too. The YouTube ad also had hundreds of thousands of views, and they saw an increase in sales volume following the elaborate prank. In conclusion, the “Skinny Skinny” jeans campaign was an all-around success for American Eagle Outfitters....