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Aerie’s latest marketing play is an organized effort to draw attention to other brands. Moving beyond the typical brand collaboration driven by a core product—a Barbie Burger King meal, for example—the clothing brand created a shared experience with a host of small businesses.
Aerie’s Hidden Gem Marketplace, which featured small New York City businesses as well as other social-driven brands, was a marketing campaign for its fall 2023 line. Partners included floral boutique Brooklyn Blooms, crystal shop Palace One Eleven and granola brand Tom’s Perfect 10. Aerie collected bra donations for Free The Girls, a nonprofit that gives economic opportunities to sex trafficking victims, and offered each attendee a free bra in return.
Aerie has used its likeness to build buzz for the activation while establishing consumer recognition for the other brands.
“Awareness is definitely an opportunity for us, but we decided to connect with local brands and amplify our messages together,” chief marketing officer Stacey McCormick told Adweek. “Most of the inspiration from our paid campaigns come from grassroots approaches or organic content from people who are just into the brand. Everything we’re doing here feels similar to that.”
A symbiotic storefront
While marketers often consider community building an effort within their own consumer base, Aerie wants to challenge that method by uniting a variety of names under one roof. And as a brand that has significantly benefited from growth on social channels, Aerie is aligning itself with newer names like PopUp Bagels that have blown up on TikTok.
The brand handed out newspapers at the event that included Q&As and profiles on businesses featured in the market, as well as information on its own products and the birth of its Aerie Real platform.