Dive Brief:
- Retail brand American Eagle is /twitchgaming's newest Official Marketing Partner, the company announced today in an email to Marketing Dive. The deal will let American Eagle amplify creators on the platform through a weekly custom segment, a five-part documentary series and community watch parties as the Official Apparel Partner of /twitchgaming.
- Creators featured in the docuseries will help to produce a special merchandise capsule for American Eagle. They also will curate outfits unique to their individual style using existing apparel from the brand. The limited-edition apparel and looks will hit store shelves on the premiere of each creator's docuseries installment.
- American Eagle is the third brand to become an Official Marketing Partner for /twitchgaming, joining Chipotle Mexican Grill and Ally Financial, and builds on the apparel brand's Twitch efforts, including creator partnerships, video ads and testing new ad formats.
Dive Insight:
Clothing company American Eagle is deepening its efforts on livestreaming site Twitch as it continues to connect with teen and young adult consumers.
Along with brand imaging, which will be part of the new channel's panels, American Eagle will work with /twitchgaming to create customized segments on gaming and related topics, as well as a multi-part docuseries spotlighting streamers. Profiling select creators could help to amplify American Eagle's presence on Twitch and widen its reach to each creator's following.
The featured streamers will also contribute to a collection of limited-edition merchandise that will debut exclusively through the retailer, potentially driving traffic to American Eagle stores and its website. Linking frequent online content to real-life apparel could spur repeat visits for American Eagle, and potentially lure new customers who learn about the retailer through viewing a favorite streamer's content.
Before today's announcement, American Eagle had already worked with several content creators and run video advertisements on Twitch. It deepened its online gamer-related connection in July 2020, becoming the presenting sponsor for the launch of EDGE, an esports platform created by marketing company VY Esports.
Beyond Twitch, American Eagle for years has ramped up its social media approach to connect with younger consumers online. For back-to-school 2020, the brand channeled TikTok culture to virtually produce an ad campaign. Earlier this month, it introduced its first digital clothing collection on Bitmoji, the cartoon avatar platform owned by Snapchat, to promote its back-to-school collection. The Bitmoji push mirrored outfits shown in recent "Future Together. Jeans Forever" video ads, an effort similar to the new /twitchgaming programming in bridging digital content with real-life merchandise.
