Sydney Sweeney Ad Campaign Drives American Eagle Jeans Sales

Sydney Sweeney‘s “good jeans” marketing campaign for American Eagle, and the buzzy news cycle that followed, did the job for the clothing brand, underscoring how celebrity-led marketing efforts can still have a major impact.

The company crushed Wall Street estimates for its second quarter on Wednesday, with CEO Jay Schottenstein citing “the success of recent marketing campaigns with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce” as a big reason why, generating some 40 billion impressions and a “meaningful improvement in the business.”

American Eagle stock soared 25 percent after hours on the earnings report.

“Sydney Sweeney sells great jeans,” American Eagle CMO Craig Brommers told Wall Street analysts on the company’s earnings call Wednesday, as executives took a victory lap over the campaigns. The company says all of the Sweeney-branded jeans products sold out within a week, with many selling out within a day.

“The American Eagle Sydney Sweeney campaign was intended to be a brand and business reset, and it was,” Brommers added.

American Eagle debuted the Sweeney campaign, with the tagline “Sydney has great jeans,” in late July, and it immediately became culture war fodder, dominating conversation on TikTok and late night TV, and even made its way to the White House. “I think her ad is fantastic,” President Trump said last month.

A month later the company unveiled a partnership with star Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, debuting just days after he announced his engagement to music mega-star Taylor Swift.

Still, the company has had a tough year, having to pull guidance in May amid a challenging business environment. Now it is hoping to find a way to keep the buzz going. Love it or hate it, a buzzy campaign can still generate attention, and in today’s attention economy, it may be enough to turn a business around.

“A brand campaign is not to be judged in just one day, one week or even one month, our brand campaign endures,” Brommers said. “It is our intent to convert this buzz into business, and to convert these customers into repeat customers.”