Kohl’s Department Stores is working with YouTube video network AwesomenessTV to help it reach teenage shoppers.

The multichannel mass merchant says later this month it plans to launch a junior’s fashion line called S.o. R.a.D., which it developed with DreamWorks Animation subsidiary AwesomenessTV. Three days before the clothing line launches, AwesomenessTV will roll out a scripted TV show called “Life’s S.o. R.a.d.” The show will live on the AwesomenessTV YouTube channel, which has more than 1.7 million subscribers.

The stars of the show will wear clothes from the Kohl’s line, which will feature an array of dresses, sweaters and skirts.

Kohl’s, No. 23 in the Internet Retailer 2014 Top 500 Guide, is working with AwesomenessTV  because teens are increasingly digesting video content online, rather than on TV, says Will Setliff, executive vice president of marketing at Kohl’s.

“Younger audiences have a different relationship with media,” he says. “It’s important to start a dialogue with content they care about in channels that fit their world versus just pushing out our messages.”

To spur those conversations, each episode will prominently feature the #sorad hashtag on Twitter and Instagram on the screen.

Kohl’s says it will buy ads promoting the program and the fashion line across the AwesomenessTV network of YouTube channels, as well as across print and digital media.

The deal is just the latest example of a large retailer using social media to build relationships with young consumers, who are increasingly difficult to reach via TV and other forms of traditional media. For example, Saks Fifth Avenue today launched a user-generated section of its site, called #SaksStyle, that aggregates images shoppers share on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter to encourage shoppers to take “selfies” of themselves wearing items they bought at Saks and share them online. 

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