Strategic Brand Management

BRAND NAME – Tommy Hilfiger

Submitted to

Prof. Meeta Munshi

Submitted by:

Name Roll No.

Ayush Kabra 157209

Submitted on: 3rd October 2019

Introduction

Tommy Hilfiger, formerly known as Tommy Hilfiger Corporation and Tommy Hilfiger Inc is
an American premium clothing company which also deals in footwear,
accessories, fragrances and home furnishings under its brand name Tommy Hilfiger. The
company was founded in 1985, and today is sold in department stores and over 2000 free-
standing retail stores in over 100 countries. In 2006, private equity firm Apax Partners acquired
Tommy Hilfiger for $1.6 billion, and in May 2010 Philips-Van Heusen acquired the company
for $3 billion. Daniel Grieder is the CEO of the company who was appointed in 2014.Despite
of being acquired Tommy Hilfiger remains the company’s principal designer, leading the
design teams and overseeing the entire creative process. Global Retail Sales of the Brand in
2018 were estimated to be $ 8.5 Billion.

Brand Timeline

1951 – Tommy Hilfiger was born on March 24th in Elmira, New York – the second of nine
other siblings in a working class family.

1969- When Hilfiger was 18 he opened People’s Place; a small chain of stores he aimed to sell
‘cool big city styles’ in. This kick-started Hilfiger’s career in fashion and soon began designing
for boutiques in NYC.
1976 – Hilfiger and Susie Carona married and moved to Manhattan soon after People’s Place
sadly ended up in bankruptcy. They could not keep up with the expenses of the company hence
had to shut it down

1979 – Hilfiger moved to the city and began his journey as a successful fashion designer where
he met Indian businessman Mohan Murjani. The pair began working together on launching a
line of unique sportswear for men.

1985 – Tommy Hilfiger’s first signature collection debuted showcasing his ability to modernise
classical men’s clothing such as the button down shirt and chinos. His casual yet luxurious
designs created a legendary hallmark that would become the brand we know and love today.
In 1985, George Lois was hired to produce the famous ‘hangman ad’ which appeared on a
billboard in Times Square which was a memorable moment in the Hilfiger history. This is the
picture of what Billboard said.
1995 – The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) named Tommy Hilfiger
Menswear Designer of the year.

1998 – Tommy Hilfiger was awarded Designer of the Year by Parsons School of Design (NYC)
as well as being honoured by GQ magazine for their annual issue entitled “Men of the Year”.

2002 – GQ magazine selected Tommy Hilfiger as International best Designs of the Year and
in November he was also gifted with the Future of America Award from D.A.R.E. to highlight
its philanthropic efforts in raising drug abuse awareness for the youth of America.

2010 – In 2010 the brand was acquired by PVH Corp, A massive global apparel company who
have helped to expand the Tommy Hilfiger Empire. However, Tommy himself is still principal
designer for his self-titled labels.

2016 – Tommy Hilfiger today, has a distribution network spanning 90 countries worldwide
with just over 1,400 retail stores in Europe, America and Asia.

2018- Tommy Hilfiger has 2000+ stores in 100 Countries with revenue of $ 8.5 Billions.
 Major Branding Activities

REBRANDING FAILURE- (2000)

In the year 2000 the Share price of the company were decreasing, Sales were slowing and most
importantly flagship stores in London and Beverly Hills closed down. Various runway shows
at fashion events worldwide were also cancelled. So what was going wrong? Just a simple
rebranding as we see such catastrophic results.

They wanted to try new strategies for the brand so they started a constant product and designs
Innovation. One of its strategy involved reworking the brand’s famous imagery. Tommy
Hilfiger, more than any other brand in the fashion industry, is a brand based on a logo. Indeed,
some of the company’s most successful products have been T-shirts with the red-white-and-
blue logo emblazoned across them. Everything about the logo, from the primary colours to the
capital letters shouting Tommy Hilfiger, suggested a bold, brash and 100 per cent US identity.
When you wore a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt everybody knew exactly what you were wearing, so
long as they could read.

Of course, these logo-centric US brand values had been present in other fashion labels, most
obviously Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, but Tommy Hilfiger had taken it a step further. They
thought the customer didn’t want the Tommy logo anymore. So they took it off from lot of
their products. They even made it tiny. They became very insecure about being a red-white-
and-blue logo brand. They thought they had to be more in line with the Euro houses like Gucci
and Prada.

In other words, Tommy Hilfiger abandoned the values that had built the brand. They had
realized their mistake and pretty soon though, the hip-hop community embraced the label, and
the Hilfiger logo could be seen popping up on every other rap video. It was only later that
Hilfiger deliberately designed clothes for this market. In effect, this meant to emphasize
something what was already there, making the prominent logo even more prominent, and the
baggy T-shirts even baggier. And as a result of this turnaround, customers and investors alike
are again comfortable with the Tommy Hilfiger brand and Sales are Boosting ever since then.
Lesson- Don’t be scared of your logo. The logo is what made Tommy Hilfiger the brand it is
today. In fact, the Tommy Hilfiger brand is pure logo. When the logo disappeared or was toned
down, the brand ran into trouble.

IN STORE VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE – (2015: SUCCESS)

In the year 2015 Tommy Hilfiger was able to grab attention for its one of a kind Virtual Reality
Experience of its fashion show at selected stores around the world.

Using a Samsung Gear-VR headset, shoppers can watch a 360-degree, three-dimensional

version of the runway as though they’re sat on the front row. Through this virtual reality show
they we’re now able to bring their one-of-a-kind fashion show to the retail setting. From the
incredible set and music to exclusive backstage moments, consumers will be able to watch the
clothes move and see the collection in the original show environment. It’s an interesting
elevation of the traditional shopping experience.

It was so authentic that one of its customer remarked “I finally tried it in the brand’s London
store on Regent Street this week, and was impressed by how realistic it seemed. Bear in mind,
I was at the show in person myself, and this genuinely feels as though you are indeed there
again- able to look left and right at your seat neighbours and behind you to see the rest of the
crowd”. Now this is the picture of the 360 Degrees camera from We-MakeVR on set during
Tommy Hilfiger's fall 2015 show.
REASON- In a regular fashion show people used to view designs which would be available
for sale in the stores 5-6 months after its release at the Fashion Show. But during this campaign
the garments next to the setup are indeed the very same ones you can see in the 360 video,
which means you can shop them instantly. One of the fashion industry’s biggest issues is the
time delay between big budget shows that generate enormous attention, and collections actually
hitting the shop floor once consumer interest has waned. Introducing VR is potentially a tiny
step forward within this. They are also planning to make it more interactive with the customers.

Here the Tommy's aim is certainly a big one. They think that “These days, you can’t just wait
for people to come into the store and try on your jackets. You have to provide entertainment,”
In an Newspaper Press Release they said that “It’s not about turnover by square foot anymore.
It’s about surprise by square foot, or newness.” This picture shows people using this VR
Technology
STORE CLUSTERING IN INDIA- (2016: FAILURE)

Tommy Hilfiger India, have clustered all its stores in three main categories – Fashion+ Stores,
Fashion Stores and Non-Fashion Stores. This categorization is done on the basis of their
performance towards Fashion+ styles, Fashion styles and Non-Fashion styles. If a store is able
to sell more of Brand’s High Fashion styles then the store is considered to be F+ store or if it
is able to sell more of fashion style then considered as F stores and so on.

Initially the clustering were done on demographic and location basis i.e. the location of the
store, the profile of the customers around the store, their age group, their income and so on.
For example store in DLF mall in Delhi is clustered as F+ stores as per the demographic and
the location.

REASON- This clustering of stores under three categories helps the company in stock
allotment and also helps to know how much of Basic styles should be bought and how much
of high style should be bought and so on. This helps the stores to analyze their performance in
different categories and keep the stock accordingly. This was a successful Strategy initially but
it failed in the long runs as the company’s consumer profile used to change with the changing
times and the company did not had a timely check whether this cluster is still applicable or not.

INFLUENCERS CAMPAIGN-VACATION AT ISLAND (2017:SUCCESS)

In the year 2017 Tommy Hilfiger Had sent several Social Media Influencers to a Vacation at
an Island near Netherlands. They combined rich influencer content with an interactive digital
platform to create a fully integrated experience for consumers to discover the Tommy Hilfiger
SS16 eyewear collection.

They build an online community with a selection of leading influencers at its roots. Their
authority, reach and brand affinity would enable them to build hype and attract the target
audience. A multimedia initiative centered on inspiring content creation under
#WishYouWereHere had initiated a trickle-down effect from these influencers to a wider
audience. Generating earned media and ultimately developing an online community.
Influencers who were the perfect match for the brand replaced more traditional fashion models
to share the Hilfiger Island story and engage the right audience. This was shared across their
blogs and social channels with #WishYouWereHere.
Results

The high engagement rate and number of impressions are a clear indicator that this approach
to influencer marketing maximizes the potential for engagement with content and The final
ROI also illustrates the effect of the extra earned media generated and how valuable this can
be to an influencer marketing strategy. This Image shows how successful this campaign was.

After these results Management of Tommy Hilfiger were so impressed that they hired Gigi
Hadid as its Brand Ambassador who is a fashion model with more than 50 Million Followers
on Instagram Alone. Gigi Was involved is all major fashion Launches of the Brand. After this
campaign they had realized the power of Brand Building through Social Media Influencers as
Now social media is an integral Part of our living.

RECYCLED COTTON TOMMY JEANS AND DENIMS – (2019)

Tommy Hilfiger has recently Announced 100% Recycled Cotton Tommy Jeans and Denim.
With a strong focus on innovation, sustainability and a genuine love of product, Tommy
Hilfiger is leveraging the Philips Van Heusen Denim Center to launch a new era of denim
styles. The Denim Center concept supports Tommy Hilfiger’s ambition to become a global
leader in denim. The innovative products include mom jeans, a unisex oversized trucker jacket
and modern tapered jeans. The PVH Denim Center supports Tommy Hilfiger’s ambition to
become a global leader in denim through innovation, sustainability and by providing best
practices within the industry.

They believe that “We have a responsibility to future generations to manufacture products in a
more thoughtful way to protect our environment. Starting with how we design and produce
some of our denim styles, we want to inspire consumers to make sustainable changes.”

REASON- To produce the 100% recycled cotton Spring 2019 TOMMY JEANS styles,
leftover cotton that may otherwise have been lost was salvaged from cutting tables and factory
floors and recycled using an innovative, entirely mechanical process that uses less water and
fewer chemicals, reduces waste and generates less carbon dioxide. Until now, creating a
completely recycled cotton yarn, at scale, to the Tommy Hilfiger quality standard was nearly
impossible. The sewing thread used is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, buttons come
from unused stock from previous seasons, and the hangtags will be made from recycled paper.
Each denim style will be finished using less water and energy by employing innovative laser
technology to apply the final wash. The Denim Lab is designed as a test center for cutting-
edge and sustainable finishing techniques. This includes ozone technology, which reduces
water and chemical consumption by up to 70%, and laser machines that reduce the need for
hand-scrapping and support the creation of denim finishes unique to the Tommy
Hilfiger brand. The Denim Academy trains wholesale and retail teams as well as wholesale
buyers on the ingredients behind the perfect pair of jeans, with a focus on product stories,
technology, sustainability and innovation.

Due to this practice Tommy Hilfiger has registered its name in this list of companies that are
moving towards Innovation along with Sustainability. The result of this move whether it is a
success or a failure is yet unknown and we will have to find it in coming times. But I think it
will be a success as people will start associating it with an Eco-Friendly Company and the
Public Image of the company will also improve.
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