Hong Kong is only one city, but in the world of fashion it speaks volumes. Its young style-savvy population is bombarded with competing brands and images as fashion labels stage their dress rehearsals for China.

When American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) took back the franchise operation in Hong Kong in 2013, it discovered the brand had virtually no awareness in the region. Meanwhile, our competitors were sending half-naked men on a bus tour of Hong Kong to show off their style.

Given a huge awareness issue and three-month window before the Christmas shopping season, could AEO do something like that?

No. We did the exact opposite. Instead of dictating style to this coveted demographic, why not let them tell us? In an unprecedented move, the clothing company invited Hong Kong consumers to define our fashion sense.

Project Live Your Life was launched, enlisting Hong Kong youth to show us what individualism, optimism and a love of denim looked like. The best male and female responses would earn the chance to be AEO’s face of Asia in our next marketing campaign, shot in the United States.

They made their case with thousands of pictures and stories on AEO’s first ever dedicated Hong Kong Facebook page. The contest grew organically — and the entries more elaborate —as our Millennials upped the stakes. We rewarded them with a glamorous grand finale at our flagship retail store with fashion bloggers, local celebrities and fawning media.

In just three months we drove sales increases of up to 70% at AEO retail events, while paving the fashion inroad to China.

Live large. Make noise. Take pictures.

The seeding stage opened with a New York themed event for AEO friends and family, creating user-generated content for the brand’s first Hong Kong Facebook page. The Project Live Your Life competition got its big bang media launch a week later in AEO’s flagship store, where stylish millennial celebrities Pakho Chau, Cherry Ngan and Janice Lee were announced as competition judges, activating their own SoMe feeds and social media assets.

As the peer-to-peer network drove contest participation organically, we triggered a targeted media buy across YouTube, Yahoo, Facebook and local millennial favorite Milk magazine. Entry submissions became more elaborate, evolving into skits, illustrations and karaoke performances, driving thousands of new fans to our AEO Facebook page.

We staged a major semi-final event where 10 of Hong Kong’s top fashion bloggers helped finalists pick an outfit for their final photo submission. And on December 11th our two winners were announced in a stylish grand finale of cheering fans and fashion celebrities and fawning media.

A (Virtually) Overnight Sensation

In only three months, AEO had become the buzz of Hong Kong. The campaign achieved a total reach of nearly 400,000, spurring over 60,000 public votes, attracting 27,000 new fans to our Facebook page, inspiring over 113 AEO articles in print and online media, and growing our CRM database by 10,653 emails.

More importantly, sales spiked by as much as 70% at the stores where our events were held. Even stores without live promotions saw increased foot traffic and sales. AEO had scored a Hong Kong breakthrough.

And the campaign isn't over. Project Live Your Life will be following its contest winners as they blog their way to their United States photo shoot, then return to Hong Kong as AEO brand ambassadors -- while we prepare the Project for an even bigger Life in China.