@americanapparel: Winning ideas for ad campaigns outside of Twitter
The Los Angeles company and leading basics brand provides hip clothing for people of all ages. Vertically-integrated, American Apparel is the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States.
How and when did you get started?
American Apparel employees began exploring with personal accounts in 2007 and established @americanapparel shortly thereafter. The account was started by Lisa Kim from the web marketing department and now multiple people are involved. They respond to comments Twitter users make about the company, taking advantage of the opportunity to interact directly with customers.
Most interesting Twitter experience?
American Apparel fans with blogs occasionally write posts with favorable mentions of the company or its products. In some cases, these AA fans use Twitter as a conduit to share their posts with the company directly. In one memorable encounter, Lisa @americanapparel received a Direct Message from a freelance photographer (Ryan Marshal @ThePanicRoom) chronicling his wife’s pregnancy with week-by-week photos of the mother-to-be in American Apparel threads. After seeing the blog, Lisa and American Apparel liked the photo series so much that they not only provided the new mom with free clothes, but used the images as the basis for an ad campaign showing cute and comfy looks for expectant moms.
American Apparel ad
Lisa also connected her colleague in online advertising with the photographer to set up American Apparel advertising on the blog. They ran a unique banner ad for baby clothes, and the blog (pacingthepanicroom.com) became one of American Apparel’s top performing sites for online ads.
A serendipitous Twitter interaction can lead to fresh and creative ideas for engaging customers with campaigns outside of Twitter.
