Why Human Emotion Still Beats Algorithms: American Eagle’s Craig Brommers

In the latest episode of AI and Outcomes in partnership with OpenAP, we sat down with Craig Brommers, CMO of American Eagle, to discuss why emotional connection remains a brand's greatest competitive advantage, how American Eagle is using AI to personalize more than 500 pieces of content each week, and why the future of marketing will depend less on perfect data and more on building the right partnerships..

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TVREV: At American Eagle, you're constantly balancing creativity, data, and performance. How do you think about that equation?

Craig Brommers: It's really the art and science of modern marketing.

At the end of the day, I don't get to keep my job unless we're delivering commercial results. Business performance matters. But we're also a specialty retail brand, and creativity has always been one of our biggest competitive advantages.

It's never been about choosing between brand and performance. The best marketing happens when those two things reinforce each other. Creativity builds emotional connection, while data helps us understand how to make that connection more effective.

TVREV: AI has become one of the industry's biggest conversations. How are you thinking about it?

Craig Brommers: My relationship with AI is complicated. On one hand, I actually think AI has become a fascinating villain for our brand. Our core Gen Z consumer has real anxiety about it. They worry it's coming for their jobs, their creativity, and even their future. We've leaned into that tension because it reflects a very real cultural conversation.

At the same time, AI is an incredibly exciting tool. Behind the scenes we're using it to accelerate creative development, produce content more efficiently, and help us personalize messaging at a scale that simply wasn't possible before.

Like most technologies, AI isn't inherently good or bad. It's all about how you use it.

TVREV: Everyone talks about data being the fuel for AI. How important is your data infrastructure?

Craig Brommers: I haven't met a CMO who believes they have perfect data. We're all on that journey.

The important thing isn't pretending your data is flawless—it's understanding what success looks like and building the right partnerships inside and outside your organization to get there. That means working closely with technology teams, data teams and advertising partners. Data isn't something marketing solves alone anymore. It's an enterprise capability.

TVREV: How do you define business outcomes?

Craig Brommers: Growth. That's really what it comes down to.

For us, that means new customer acquisition, loyalty, category performance and understanding exactly which products resonate with which audiences. We look closely at how different demographics respond, what styles they're buying and how those behaviors evolve over time.

AI helps us get there because we're producing more than 500 pieces of content every week. Without automation, personalizing that content for different audiences at scale simply wouldn't be possible.

TVREV: You spend your career thinking about consumers. What gives you optimism as we head into the next year?

Craig Brommers: People. That's what excites me most.

For all the attention AI receives, marketing is still fundamentally about human connection. We recently looked at research around Gen Z women and the biggest drivers behind their purchasing decisions. The top influences weren't AI or social algorithms, they were friends, moms, and physical stores.

Those are exactly the same drivers we've seen for decades. Technology changes. Human nature doesn't change nearly as quickly. That's why building emotional connections will always matter.