Behind American Eagle's Threads strategy—why it left Twitter and is an early adopter of Meta’s new app

As Threads continues to grow—Meta’s Instagram text-based platform amassed 30 million users in its first day of existence—brands are beginning to establish their strategies for social media’s new popular spot. The nascent platform has already attracted brands such as McDonald’s, CoverGirl and HBO. As expected, advertisers are following as marketers seek out alternatives to Twitter. Threads, which debuted earlier this month, already inked a deal with Hulu and creator Adam Rose. American Eagle is one brand that stopped posting on Twitter late last year and is now all about Threads. A July 6 Tweet directs followers to American Eagle’s new Threads account. The Pittsburgh-based teen retailer surpassed 150,000 followers in the week after joining the Meta-owned platform, a number that continues to grow. Along with posts referencing Gen Z favorites such as “Sex and the City,” American Eagle is also interacting with other brands, including Alo Yoga, Revlon and DoorDash. Also read: Social media managers explain their Threads strategies Below, Craig Brommers, American Eagle’s chief marketing officer, talks with Ad Age about why the brand is “letting it rip” on Threads. Responses have been lightly edited. Why did American Eagle join Threads? Walk us through the thought process for joining the nascent platform. Our team is having so much fun on Threads. We were a brand that made the decision to jump off of Twitter in recent months as that platform goes through its evolution. We’ll keep an eye on whether we return to Twitter or not, but we do know that our audience loves the more humorous, disruptive side of AE. While we have a humorous expression on TikTok and on Instagram, there’s nothing like this short-form messaging platform to really play around and have some fun. As soon as our team learned Threads was going live, they went into action. The brand’s last tweet was in December. Why did you pull back from the platform? We wanted to really understand where Twitter is going and just needed to take a pause. We’re still on pause and will evaluate whether we go back in the future, but we’re a very positive, optimistic brand and we want to be on platforms that share those values. We will be curious, just like the rest of the marketing world, whether Twitter is a platform that will participate in that down the road. Let’s talk about American Eagle’s strategy on Threads. What is the brand voice? It’s definitely been a humor-first voice, with a little bit of disruption. There’s also a lot of interaction. If you go through the feed, we’ve been interacting with other brands as well and that’s something we don’t always do on other social media platforms. We’ve been focusing less on product and kind of being more of the sarcastic best friend that our audience is interested in. Threads can also be a place where we test new content that we don’t have on other channels and see if it connects with our Gen Z audience. If it does, perhaps we’ll take some of that into other platforms. One thing Threads has also allowed us to do is to be authentic and in the moment. Sometimes brands come across as too robotic, too sound bite-y and on Threads. We’re letting it rip. How big is your social marketing team and how many people work on Threads? It’s a small army of six people. Everyone is having a hand in Threads. The fun thing about my marketing team here is that many of them are Gen Z. I feel it’s Gen Zers talking to Gen Zers, which is also something that has worked well for us in the first week or so of Threads. I am not sitting here approving language—I’m letting this team have fun, play and go. Post by @americaneagle View on Threads The account just hit 155,000 followers and continues to grow. How do you feel engagement has been so far and how does it compare with your expectations? I’m not even sure we had expectations. American Eagle has been a first mover on new social media platforms. We were the first brand to move onto BeReal, we’ve been on Lemon8 and obviously, now we’re one of the first to jump on Threads. This plays into our ethos of Gen Z always wants what’s new, what’s now, what’s next. Threads has exceeded expectations out the door in terms of how many people have signed up and are now on that platform. It speaks to the desire to find the right platform—I’m not saying Twitter can’t be that in the future—but the right platform for this short-form message content. Threads, at least a week out, has filled that void for people, brands and organizations that were feeling that they might need to take a break from Twitter. I saw American Eagle ran a “Sex and the City” Carrie post earlier. It feels like some of your messages are targeting a host of age groups beyond just Gen Z. How does that play into your strategy? We’re open to interacting with anyone. I have two Gen Z teenage daughters at home and the eldest is a fan of the original “Sex and the City” and that along with “Mean Girls” have really connected with Gen Z. So “Sex and the City” and “Mean Girls” are a great example of something that does connect with Gen Z but could also connect with broader generations and also millennials who loved those movies and programs. Post by @americaneagle View on Threads Speaking of creators, have you identified any prominent people on Threads that American Eagle might potentially work with in the future? We’ve noticed a few bold-faced names who decided to exit Twitter and jumped on Threads. We’re all curious about how we are going to create content on Threads. We have a great track record of finding the best creators out there and we’re confident if creators are a hit on Threads, our team will find them. What types of metrics are you looking for on the platform and have you received any yet? It’s so early. We’re not focused on those types of metrics right now—it's about playing and establishing our voice and our presence. At some point, we would pivot to some of the more hard metrics that would define success, but right now it’s permission to play and establish our presence. See America's Hottest Brands 20 brands that are trending in 2023 Click here Are you also advertising on Threads or at least thinking about it? We’d love to learn more about what the Meta team has in place there. The one thing about these short-form messaging platforms is you can be so culturally relevant then when you think about our brand and our product, they fit so nicely into something of the moment and so we would love to learn more about advertising. I’ve called Meta the Comeback Kid of 2023—they’ve been producing great results for us from a commercial perspective. They’re finding a bit of a groove again of introducing new products to the market like Threads and the continuation of Reels. How does your strategy on Threads differ from other platforms like Instagram, for example? Threads is right here, right now and maybe that sarcastic best friend mentality. Instagram has evolved—we are playing more with humor and with memes than we were six to 12 months ago, but Instagram is still a great place for us from an aspirational perspective to showcase our products in a very eye-pleasing way. TikTok has really turned over to creators and it’s a creator-first platform and that’s worked very well for us. It’s less about what we are posting and what we are sharing as opposed to the creators we work with—their tone of voice, their creative expression. And Snap for us has been about augmented reality and experiences. Threads right now is filling a niche that other social media platforms don’t. Follow us on social media X Bluesky Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Behind American Eagle's Threads strategy—why it left Twitter and is an early adopter of Meta’s new app

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