We wanted to get people talking about American Eagle Outfitters again, from "yeah they make jeans", to wait - "they're actually fucken cool". By leveraging social channels via sharable content, we knew we'd infiltrate their customer's lives in a way that was unexpected and got them thinking differently - like way differently - about the brand. So we created a fake product, so outrageous yet seemingly believable, that people were stumped. We called it the "Skinny Skinny Jeans", and boy were they skinny. This new jean was so tight, you spray it on, securing it's place in denim history as world's skinniest jean. We pushed it across multiple platforms via content, online banners, promoting on Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter, in-store and even the ability to buy it online. We "trialed" the product with unsuspecting consumers in-store, capturing their authentic reactions on film as way to reveal the absurdity. And it worked. The internet was abuzz with talk of the Skinny Skinny jeans, from fashion and lifestyle blogs, to even being featured on the Today Show. The ploy was a success. People were talking about American Eagle Outfitters again, and suddenly this ho-hum teen brand had some edge.

To create buzz around AEO denim, we launched a fake denim product called the Skinny Skinny, and marketed it like a real one. We promoted them as the skinniest jeans ever created, because you simply paint them on your skin. We started with a teaser video, which showed customers wearing the product and praising its comfort. This was enough to get people talking and wondering if we were for real. The product was available for purchase online, but was always out of stock when a consumer tried to buy it. We later revealed that the jeans were in fact, fake. We also conducted an in-store stunt where real consumers as they interacted with the product, and ultimately, found out that it was all a prank. Throughout the campaign, the whole Internet was buzzing about AE jeans. That’s exactly what we had in mind.

Over 1.5 million video views

over 200,000 people visited ae.com to try to buy the Skinny-Skinny

+27% increase in earned social activity.

Over 119,000 social posts

More than 1250 online articles from new sources like the Huff Po, GQ, Yahoo, LA times & College Candy.

Over 5.1 million people saw the big reveal on the Today show.