Good Genes, Great Dancing: The Battle of Viral Denim Campaigns

The fashion advertising landscape has been dramatically shaken by two competing denim campaigns that have captivated audiences worldwide. Our latest episode dives deep into this unexpected cultural moment, examining how American Eagle and Gap have approached selling essentially the same product with wildly different strategies—both achieving remarkable success.

American Eagle's controversial campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney centered around a clever "good genes" wordplay that sparked heated debates across social platforms. Despite (or perhaps because of) the controversy surrounding a blue-eyed blonde spokesperson making this particular joke, American Eagle saw sales surge by an impressive 10% immediately following the campaign launch. This raises fascinating questions about whether controversy might sometimes be a strategic advantage rather than a liability.

Meanwhile, Gap countered with their signature high-production music video approach featuring Cat's Eye performing to Kelis's "Milkshake" with mesmerizing choreography. The ad has proven so captivating that shoppers are literally stopping in their tracks at mall entrances to watch—a remarkable achievement in our attention-scarce world. What makes this particularly noteworthy is how it challenges current marketing wisdom. While platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels have pushed brands toward raw, authentic-feeling content, Gap's polished production demonstrates that exceptionally executed creative can still outperform the homemade aesthetic when it delivers something influencers simply cannot replicate from their bedrooms.

Have you noticed these campaigns while scrolling? We'd love to hear which approach resonated more with you and why. Subscribe to Digital Horizons for more analysis of the trends reshaping marketing in real-time, and share your thoughts with us on social media!

The Digital Horizons Podcast is hosted by:

James Walker - Managing Director WHD
Brian Hastings - Managing Director Nous

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:18):
All right, welcome back to Digital Horizons and a
brand new.
Seen them and I said of courseI have, but I didn't really have
any opinion on them.
So I guess I was keen to hearyour thoughts on what's going on
with these ads and, I guess,any takeaways from them.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, I'm not just doing it for my own interests as
a branding specialist and, youknow, with a digital marketing
podcast, it is a culturalphenomenon the two denim ads
that we're seeing in market atthe moment and I thought we must
at least discuss it and seewhat we're seeing in market at
the moment.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
So we're talking about Sydney Sweeney and another
brand, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle.
That's right With the celebrityendorsement ad that came out
probably about a month and ahalf ago, and then last week,
gap's latest denim ad, whichuses their sort of tried and
tested, viral, almost musicvideo style ad with Cat's Eye,
the girl group.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
So on the Sydney Sweeney side of things, I've
seen obviously across Twitterand LinkedIn and everywhere
people got their opinions on it.
But from what I do understandis that attention obviously is
way up on the brand, like thepeople are talking about.
The brand Are sales up.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, it absolutely has.
So people can have thecontroversy or their concern or
they want.
I personally believe it is justa jeans ad that used a pretty
hot, famous celebrity to endorseit, but sales surged
immediately after the campaignby 10%.
That's huge with the size ofthe sales revenue for American

(01:50):
Eagle.
However, the controversy beingpeople thinking Sydney Sweeney's
talking about her genes beingher genetics, which is the joke.
I've got good genes, meaningthe American Eagle genes and her
genetics.
People worried about how thatlooks or sounds coming from a
blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl.
Yeah, controversy aside, peoplesay what they want about it.

(02:11):
It worked In the spacefollowing that ad with the
controversy that ensued the GapI don't know whether they
planned this or whether it wasjust a happy coincidence in
launching their denim ad onlythree or four weeks later.
And it's not new for Gap.
They've always been doing theseviral music video style pieces
of content that get 50 to 60million views on the YouTube

(02:35):
versions of the ad alone andthey've been hugely successful.
But just at the time followingthe Sydney Sweeney denim ad
controversy, it was like Gapswooped in with this hugely
addictive ad to watch thechoreography.
It's fantastic from Cat's Eye,the girls doing the dancing and
the wider dance group.
That's in that, but also theKhalees song Milkshake.

(02:56):
It just grabs attention andit's impossible not to watch.
It's just an awesome piece ofchoreography entertainment
paired with the music.
And in the background they'rewearing some pretty cool clothes
, pretty cool denim.
So the outcome or the theme hasbeen wow, gap's done it right,
they've figured it out, they'veserved a denim ad.

(03:16):
Well to anyone who was havingissues with the Sydney Sweeney
ad, I think for both brands theyare seeing a surge in their
sales and revenue.
There isn't any available datayet because the Gap one is so
recent, but it's just soincredible that a competitor's
campaign, even a successful one,can be leveraged or you can

(03:37):
have some success of it by goingin a slightly different
direction, promoting the sameproduct, your denim line, just
in a different way and juststicking to their knitting.
At Gap they were doing theirvideo production, music video
style, with a great hook, agreat song, and it is just
landing so well.
There's videos of old people inshopping centres stopping and
looking at the screens out thefront of Gap stores.

(03:59):
There's a screen on either sideof the entryway where the
music's playing and they're justwatching this music video.
Groups of people strangers arestopping to watch this music
video because the dance ishypnotic.
It's a fantastic piece ofbranding.
There's no controversy flickingoff the back of this one, but I
don't think that controversyhas hurt american eagle enough

(04:19):
for it to be considered achallenge or a failure.
Sydney sweeney chime in and saythere's nothing more to this ad
than just an ad.
Yeah, um, but yeah, I thinkit's a great campaign from
specifically the gap.
I think the american eagle onewas just to me a standard
campaign.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah like.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's just unusual for us to see people pick a
large-chested, blonde, blue-eyedgirl as their only ambassador
in this day and age.
So I think it was a bit of aout of left field for some
people to see that, but she doeshave an audience.
I think it was still a goodplan.
We'll check in and update howthe sales figures for Gat

(04:58):
performed after the Cat's Eyevideo.
But I think the other point Ireally wanted to make is in the
world of meta reels and TikTokvideos, where lower quality ads
are now the expectation to feelreal, natural and organic.
This super high productioncreative if done well, if taken
to a place that can't bereplicated by influencers in

(05:21):
their bedrooms can massivelyoutperform the homemade stuff.
It comes at a cost, but therestill is a place for really
really well executed creative inthe brand space and that's
something I'm really excited tosee.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, Well, thank you again for watching.
We'll be back again next week.