Hollister’s new graduation campaign leans into nostalgia

Hollister connected with Perez at Lollapalooza last summer, where it sponsored the festival’s late-night concerts, dubbed aftershows.

“We love her emotional storytelling and the way she connects life moments with her audience. It’s similar to what we aspire to do with our marketing and creative work,” said Joanna Ewing, the brand’s svp of creative marketing. While it looks for partners who are a match on paper — who Gen Z is listening to, for example — Hollister is also looking for emotional resonance, she said. “We will look at the fan base and the comments and the enthusiasm and the spirit of the community that any artist builds, and how that fits with the spirit of our own [community],” Ewing said. Perez broke out in 2024 with “Sailor Song,” which went viral on TikTok and surpassed 1.7 billion streams on Spotify.

The brand brought Perez the idea of covering the Green Day classic, which has often been thought of as a graduation song. “The Green Day song is timeless. And social media today has created this world where songs from the past and songs from the present live together in one timeline,” Ewing said, regarding the choice to use a 29-year-old song.

The music video also features members of the Hollister Style Hub, the brand’s creator collective. “Most of the talent in the video are authentic brand fans and seniors out here. It was shot in Monrovia, outside of L.A., and it was an amazing day,” Ewing said.

Fashion brands working with musical artists isn’t a new phenomenon, but it remains a popular marketing tactic. Ewing noted that Hollister itself has a long history of connecting its brand to music, dating back to selling physical CDs and making playlists for its stores. In 2024, the brand introduced its Feel Good Fest music program, which brought artists including Benson Boone, JVKE and Dylan Conrique to high schools and select venues nationwide.

Gap’s Spring campaign, released earlier this month, stars Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko wearing Gap in a music video for her song “WASSUP.” Other brands have gone the product placement route — for example, Free People and Coach have used music videos to align with of-the-moment artists like Addison Rae and Charli XCX, respectively.

Hollister’s campaign is 360 degrees, going beyond the music video. Perez also created other content for other parts of the campaign, as have other creators. “We have a lot to look forward to over the course of our summer campaign and several different extensions for the Gigi content,” Ewing said. “We have [stories] that she shares, along with her memories [about] that time in her life and the advice she would give to herself,” Ewing said. The campaign will also encompass in-store activations, store window displays, photo booth activations and more.

In addition to the campaign’s digital elements, Hollister is debuting a corresponding “Time of Your Life” clothing collection, also named after the song. Along with dresses ready for a graduation ceremony, it includes sleepwear, accessories, bags, and things that you could pack to go off to school or set up your dorm. “We have a lot of senior-related merchandise that we really envision as being that memento that you keep in your closet for years to come,” Ewing said.

When it comes to what Ewing is looking to achieve with the campaign, along with sales, Ewing said she’s also looking to establish an emotional connection between the brand and its young fans who are at a particularly memorable part of their lives. “It goes without saying that revenue is critical, so I take that very seriously, but engagement and [the] conversation really matter to us. … We decide if we did a good job, [based on] if it seems to really matter to people, and if that comes around to them purchasing the product, [making] memories in it, capturing those memories and keeping it in the back of their closet one day. That’s really the goal.”