When Kendrick Lamar stepped out onto the stage in flare jeans for his Super Bowl halftime show, it was the gift American Eagle did not know it was getting in 2025, said Craig Brommers, Chief Marketing Officer at apparel brand American Eagle Outfitters, while speaking at the Shoptalk conference last month.

“Kendrick Lamar walks out on the biggest stage on the planet wearing flare jeans and everyone on the planet equates flare jeans with American Eagle back in the mid-2000s, and this thing goes crazy,” Brommers said. Indeed, American Eagle’s social team was ready to jump into the conversation, engage with consumers and ensure the brand was a part of it all. “This is the role and responsibility of the CMO, to literally step out of the way and let the team rock and roll and have fun,” he said.

In our latest Marketers on Fire feature, we review how Brommers coached his team to pivot the entire marketing plan overnight, how the brand’s social listening muscle is key to capitalizing on cultural trends and his plans for expanding AE’s influencer army to the thousands.

Speaking of Shoptalk, here’s a look at five takeaways from the conference, from AI to retail media to the need to pivot during uncertain times.

Streaming video subscribers in the U.S. spend an average of $69 per month—up 13% year-over-year—across four subscription services, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends report. And 47% of those consumers say they pay too much for the streaming services they subscribe to. Not surprisingly, some of them are opting to watch free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) instead. We look at recent data from streaming TV tech company Wurl, which looks at viewership trends and recommendations for marketers.

Lastly, according to a study commissioned by money transfer service Wise in partnership with The Centre for Economics and Business Research, small and midsize businesses in the U.S. pay an estimated $153 billion annually in hidden fees. Plus, 60% of SMB operators believe running a business is more chaotic now than ever before. These findings convinced the London-based company to launch its first B2B campaign in the U.S. Here’s how the activation played out.

Until next week,