American Eagle’s marketing has been a lightning rod for discussion currently, but a number of the apparel retailer’s most experimental bets might be flying under the radar. In May, the brand launched a subscription-based Substack newsletter, Off The Cuff, with the primary issues guest-edited by After School author Casey Lewis.
It is probably not a Sydney Sweeney-level cultural event, however the concept speaks to how retail brands are exploring latest ways to leverage creators in the chase for authenticity while attempting to stay on the ball with emergent media channels. Off The Cuff runs counter to the trend toward ultra-short social video in the TikTok mold, analyzing the style zeitgeist through written editorial delivered on to customers’ email inboxes.
“Part of what’s so interesting about Substack and the engagement is it’s long-form,” said Ashley Schapiro, vice chairman of promoting, media, performance and engagement at American Eagle, during a panel on the National Retail Federation’s Big Show earlier this month. “Now, you’ve got this below-the-fold newsletter that individuals are reading top-to-bottom.”
At the annual industry gathering, it was clear that American Eagle isn’t the one retailer dipping into services like Substack to sharpen brand voice in 2026. These editorially driven ventures come as creators are similarly trying to diversify outside of platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where engagement is increasingly algorithm-dictated and raw follower counts don’t carry the identical weight they used to.
“[Creators] are widening their aperture of where they construct their communities beyond social,” said Sarah Henry, head of content, influencer and commerce at Walmart, on the panel with Schapiro and a representative from H&M. “We’re seeing that a few of our most engaged creators, they’re also constructing communities on Substack, on Discord, on Reddit, etc.”
Stretching the influencer bounds
NRF’s Big Show provided additional evidence that the creator economy is becoming a central piece of retail marketing strategies while continuing to splinter in different directions that may be hard to maintain tabs on. Total U.S. ad spending on creators was heading in the right direction to hit $37 billion in 2025, a 26% year-over-year increase, in response to a November forecast from the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Nearly half of marketers surveyed by the IAB identified creator content as a “should have.”
“I can guarantee you if there’s a priority inside the organization from a business perspective, it would have a large-scale backing influencer strategy and plan,” said Noah Gonzalez, head of brand PR and talent relations at H&M Americas, throughout the talk with Henry and Schapiro
Alternative creator channels like Substack and Beehiiv are generating interest as brands seek to balance out “snackable” video strategies that boost brand awareness — in addition to sales, because of social commerce features like TikTok Shop — with a more in-depth type of community connection. Subscription-based models open avenues for repeat engagement and weaving together a bigger brand narrative that’s hard to perform with a six-second video ad.
“Long-form is interesting from a consumer perspective since it’s really about diving deeper,” said Walmart’s Henry. “It’s unpacking something, it’s finding information, it’s establishing a brand new routine.”
For American Eagle, Substack stretches the bounds of what constitutes influencer marketing and will appeal to Gen Zers who — despite often being pegged as smartphone-addled — have expressed interest in ways to decelerate and unplug. Following the initial issues done in collaboration with Lewis, American Eagle enlisted Tariro Makoni, writer of the Trademarked newsletter, for additional installments of Off The Cuff.
“Not every little thing meaningful happens on a social feed anymore, and we began to listen to how the inbox offers a more intimate space for perspective and conversation,” said Schapiro in an email following the NRF conference.
“Strategically, this work serves a distinct purpose than traditional influencer marketing, with the goal of constructing credibility, trust and long-term brand constructing,” Schapiro added. “The goal is to have interaction our current audience in a brand new way, while also continuing to achieve a brand new consumer who’s looking for more in-depth storytelling.”
Human-powered brand constructing
Beyond the storytelling potential, some retailers see community-oriented platforms as a safeguard against artificial intelligence, a technology that’s reshaping how brands appear in search environments. On Google, AI is deprecating traditional website positioning as focus shifts to AI Overviews that condense information from an array of sources in one text box. Brands that do the heavy lifting to embed themselves in the sources that feed AI Overviews stand to profit, in response to experts.
“Quite a lot of those forums are usually not generating content from your personal [brand] voice, but your prolonged community,” said Jamie Domenici, CMO of promoting platform Klaviyo, in an interview on the NRF show floor. “Investing in constructing that up is driving loads more discoverability in search.”
At NRF, an executive from Abercrombie & Fitch described embracing “human-powered brand constructing,” or getting regular customers and creators to advocate on behalf of the brand to spice up visibility. The idea is to prioritize editorial content and replica in areas like FAQs, Substacks and Reddit versus solely boosting social video.
“That variety of content is becoming, I believe, increasingly more vital in this world of GEO/AEO,” said Samir Desai, chief digital and technology officer at Abercrombie & Fitch, during an NRF talk.
AI Overviews’ distinguished place in Google amplifies the necessity for retailers to be authorities on subject material relevant to their business, other panelists agreed. Lowe’s, for instance, is capitalizing on formats like how-to videos while putting less priority on keyword crawling. The home-improvement retailer is making larger efforts to shore up its creator capabilities. Last June, it rolled out a creator network to deepen its reference to young consumers, with sign-on from top names like MrBeast.
“Content has all the time been king, and I believe content in a more true, trusted and authentic fashion — that’s where generative engines are going,” said Neelima Sharma, senior vice chairman of omnichannel and e-commerce technology at Lowe’s, on the panel with Abercrombie’s Desai.
What’s coming next
Successful creator content can also be being converted into paid media more often by retailers, not only for social campaigns, but additionally digital, email and out of home. On several NRF panels, brands claimed creator content that was repurposed as working media delivers higher results than more traditional, polished-looking ads.
“Creator content … I bet my bottom dollar is that it outperforms branded assets each time, and never by a bit by loads,” said H&M’s Gonzalez. “There’s all the time going to be a spot and importance for branded assets, but creator content all the time performs higher.”
On the flip side, the proliferation and fragmentation of creator content poses challenges to measurement at a degree in time where CMOs face greater pressure to indicate their work supports the underside line. Retail marketers must account for the indisputable fact that return on investment may be “looser” in emergent channels than via direct paid clicks, in response to Klaviyo’s Domenici.
“Multitouch attribution, which is sort of a geeky term, I believe it’s never been more vital,” said Domenici. “If you only go after one touch, which is paid media, it’s very easy, but that’s just not the way in which that individuals or consumers are interacting with brands anymore.”
For now, experiments on platforms like Substack may remain just that — experiments — and marketers should approach these innovations with a level of caution and by putting brand fundamentals first.
“Anyone who says that they know [what’s next], they’re either crazy or they’re attempting to sell you something,” said Gonzalez. “There are so many shiny, flashy things inside the marketing world … for those who’re constantly chasing, you’re going to derail, you’re going to be lost.”
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