KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Aerie – #AerieReal Campaign

• The Creators of UGC (User-Generated Content)

• Consumers of Aerie’s product

• Who’s the biggest “winner”? 

Aerie – #AerieReal Campaign

The #AerieReal Campaign was launched in 2014 owned by American Eagle outfitters. It has been prompted by the intimate apparel brand in order to challenge traditional beauty and encourage inside authenticity. The aim of this campaign used to promote realistic which has attracted a lot of audiences post their “no filter” selfies on the social media.

The #AerieReal campaign was a major turning point in the brand’s growth. American Eagle’s stock is up 114% year-over-year, and Aerie’s growth has been even faster. Just last year, Aerie was valued at $500 million, $200 million higher compared to 2017.

The Creators of UGC (User-Generated Content)

The #AerieReal campaign was able to attract highly discussion needs to thank to the positive publicity it received from users. Jennifer Foyle, head of Aerie, said after the campaign’s success, “The #AerieReal campaign was very real, and that’s what attracted the resonance of a number of young women “. And the idea of the #AerieReal campaign was to capture the reality in reaction and create an unpolished aesthetic.

The #AerieReal campaign provides a platform for users to showcase their beauty and encourages them to post their unique beauty. Even now, #AerieReal is still very popular on Instagram, for example. It has 395,901 posts under the hashtag #aeriereal. So #AerieReal and UGC creators are a mutually beneficial relationship.

And on Twitter, the #AerieReal campaign continues. More users are now choosing to post about their daily lives and add the hashtag #AerieReal to express their daily life.

So #AerieReal is not just a perfect campaign, but turning #AerieReal into a life attitude. I certainly can see that participants in this event not only just share photos of themselves, but also brought their own heat and exposure. In the meantime, it also encouraged other participants to have a try. Finally, I would like to say it enhances Aerie’s sense of community connection.

“#AerieReal was rooted in the community from the beginning, and as Aerie grew, those customers grew with us”.

As Stacey McCormick, VP of marketing at #AerieReal, 2021

Consumers of Aerie’s product

Therefore, a successful product cannot be separated from the right campaign promotion. After the launch of the #AerieReal campaign, American Eagle also successfully expanded into the swimwear and casual wear categories. And also got a good response.

For example, TikTok user Hannah Schlenker once posted a video of her 30s wearing a pair of cross-leggings from Aerie. In the video, she simply wiggles her body to the music. But so far it has 7.8 million views and more than 8710,000 likes. And after the video went viral, the leggings sold out six times, with more than 100,000 people signing up to receive restocking notices. 

@hannahschlenker

Yes queen give us nothing (dc: @rianneneill)

♬ Drummer Boy – Justin Bieber

In the end, she quickly became a spokesperson for the Aerie brand. Subsequently, Aerie also successfully launched the cross belt flared pants, tennis wear and swimwear and so on. These derivative products have also been promoted and advertised at Hannah Schlenker.

Who’s the biggest “winner”? 

In the case of the #AerieReal Campaign, it’s hard to define who benefited the most from the campaign. Because the success of this activity is multifaceted and involves multiple interests. But I would like to say consumers of Aerie’s products and brands can be the big winners. Because both prompted the brand influence and popularity of Aerie. Derivative products were also released after the success of this event. 

The brand itself has benefited from the #AerieReal Campaign. Because meaningful marketing resonates with consumers and increases customer stickiness. At last, the main aim of #AerieReal is the biggest winner from my perspective. Because its authenticity made a contrast to other brands used models who has near-perfect bodies (eg. Victoria’s Secret). Let consumers want to buy at the same time will not be doubted themselves  “They are suitable?” “Will it be very different from models?”.