One billboard and the world accepted ‘Big designer, what was Tommy Hilfiger’s trick?’

New Delhi. Established in 1985, Tommy Hilfiger is today an iconic brand in the fashion world, which offers a perfect mix of traditional and modern style. The brand has more than 2000 retail stores across the world. Now its ownership is with PVH Corp. The special thing is that 40 years ago, American fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger had made the products of his brand a topic of discussion in New York even before it came into the market. This is the story of that era when decades of penance, applause from critics and becoming the choice of the rich were considered mandatory to earn name in the world of fashion. But, Tommy Hilfiger defied all these rules. Before building a clothing empire, Tommy created an ‘illusion’ and within no time the whole world became a part of that illusion. Decades before the era of social media and viral videos, Tommy had discovered the formula to go ‘viral’.

It is the year 1985. There were thousands of faces on the streets of New York, but the name Tommy Hilfiger did not exist among them. Tommy was a young designer who was preparing to launch his first menswear line. He had talent, but he knew that it was very difficult to be recognized among giants like Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein on the basis of talent alone. What used to happen was that to create a brand, first designs were prepared, then shows were held and then, often with luck, a brand was created. But Tommy Hilfiger hated the word ‘wait’. He did not want to spend years to earn fame.

Made a game with the help of a billboard

Tommy Hilfiger and his marketing partner George Lewis came up with an amazing solution. A trick that proved to be very magical. He put up a huge billboard in Times Square, New York’s busiest intersection. There were no pictures of clothes on this billboard, nor were there any models. There was a simple message on it, written like the ‘Hangman’ game. The initials of the names of four American designers were written in it. R _ _ L _ _ i.e. Ralph Lauren, P _ _ E _ _ i.e. Perry Ellis, C _ _ K _ _ i.e. Calvin Klein and T _ _ H _ _ i.e. Tommy Hilfiger. Below it was written: “These are the four greatest American menswear designers.” No one in the entire New York knew who this fourth name ‘Tommy Hilfiger’ was? But the psychological game had started.

This billboard aroused curiosity among the people.

Tommy had established himself as a ‘legend’ even before he sold his first shirt. Fashion critics called it ‘arrogance’, some called it ‘nonsense’ and big players in the industry were furious at this audacity. But Tommy’s purpose had been fulfilled – ‘curiosity’. People started going to shops and asking about the Tommy Hilfiger collection. This was a great example of ‘perception hacking’. He convinced people that this brand was already big. As soon as curiosity arose, the market also supported them with demand and delivery.

identity sold before selling clothes

When Tommy Hilfiger’s collection finally reached stores, people flocked. He looked at the design later, first he bought the ‘name’ he had been hearing talked about for the past few weeks. Tommy was not just selling clothes, he was selling a ‘prestige’ and an ‘identity’. In just a few months, Tommy Hilfiger became everywhere. Their red, white and blue logo appeared on magazine covers, TV commercials and music videos everywhere.