The Tommy Hilfiger Experience

"Slumber" by NEEDTOBREATHE This is a great wakeup song. Enjoy!

The concept of branding presented in Naomi Klein’s “No Logo” intrigued me. Throughout the first chapter, Klein offers examples of companies, including Starbucks, The Body Shop, Nike, and Tommy Hilfiger, which sell based on brand name, not product. Klein states that advertising techniques have evolved during the past few decades. She even asserts that “the products that will flourish in the future will be the ones presented not as “commodities” but as concepts: the brand as experience, as lifestyle” (Klein). Since Klein repeatedly mentioned Tommy Hilfiger’s brand empire, I visited the Hilfiger website hoping to see branding in action. I hit the jackpot.

Home Page of Tommy Hilfiger Website

When my Google search materialized into the red, white and blue Hilfiger webpage, a video link consumed the top half of my screen. A Tommy family photo served as the link’s background and invited me to “Join The Hilfigers” on “le vöyãge seafãr-iüs” and “Watch This Video.” With one click, I jumped on board the Hilfiger family adventure. I sailed away from the stress of biology and math tests to analyze branding schemes and investigate the experience and lifestyle Tommy’s 2013 spring ad campaign offers.

            After watching the Hilfiger video twice, I paused periodically throughout it in order to closely observe the marketing strategies and messages. In the first seconds, I saw a close-up shot of blue ocean horizon dotted with puffy white clouds reflected in the end of a little boy’s spyglass. As the camera zoomed out, the entire Hilfiger family appeared assembled on their boat. By beginning the film with a close-up of the spyglass, Tommy tells me he is watching out for me personally. He values my individuality and makes clothes to fit my distinct taste. The shot also invites me to adopt the Hilfiger worldview and to sail in the unique Hilfiger style.

Zooming out, the diverse yet essentially American family comes into focus. Patriotic splashes of red white and blue dominate the scene representing America and the Hilfigers, who even included their dogs in the family adventure. In this posed scene different types of people symbolize Hilfiger ideals, which are legitimate and acceptable because the heads of the family are on board. Tommy, the authority figure, stands center stage with his arms confidently crossed. A scholarly looking woman and African American man stand beside him showing that the Hilfigers are rational and intellectual. In the photo’s first plane, an African American woman reclines representing the brand’s sexy style and an Asian lady sits with attitude representing the brand’s exotic side. Just behind the black woman who wears a bikini and blazer sits the mom of the family, which tells me that the girl’s peculiar, risqué style is accepted. After all, who wears inappropriate clothes in front of a mother figure? The boy with the spyglass stands in the middle of the family directly in front of the father figure and embodies the Hilfiger’s youthful yet tradition-steeped spirit. Within the first four seconds, the video communicates the Hilfiger identity.

Also integral to Hilfiger identity is high social status, which the video continually highlights. Using a boat as the setting of the film functions to display the Hilfiger’s pecuniary power. Boats, airplanes and fancy cars are all expensive, but a boat displays the family’s ability to consume goods and leisure time simultaneously. Airplanes and cars must stop frequently to refuel, adhere to strict schedules and obey road regulations. Boats however can drift freely and independently. Open waters, bound only by blue horizons, allow the Hilfigers to relax, dream and move easily anywhere in the ocean. Additionally alcoholic drinks abound throughout the film. As Thorstein Veblen argues in “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” consuming quality alcoholic drinks shows a family’s wealth and ability to enjoy leisure time. In the film, the Hilfigers also fence, play golf and paint, all expensive activities that require skill and time to attain expertise. Interestingly each scene that shows these hobbies incorporates alcoholic drinks. Toward the video’s end, the Hilfigers decide to have a dance party and bring up records from below deck. An “H” marks each vinyl disc and symbolizes that the Hilfigers have historical ties. Records show that the brand has stayed fashionable for decades, which inspires confidence in prospective buyers. The Hilfiger ad campaign incorporates status symbols to manufacture an elite, chic and forever-trendy brand.

Estelle

Finally this video cobrands Tommy Hilfiger and Estelle Swaray, an R&B singer from London. Estelle’s song, “Do My Thing” is the video’s soundtrack and its lyrics coordinate with the Hilfigers’ actions. Just after Estelle sings, “I wear my clothes like this because I can,” the golfing Hilfiger wears his button down shirt around his waist, and it momentarily looks like a skirt. While the viewer hears, “I walk around like this because I can,” the Hilfiger family puts on its fashion show. Lastly the family members carrying the Hilfiger records emerge from below deck through a door labeled “Hilfiger” while Estelle sings “I do my thing like this ‘cause its who I am.” Tommy wants the public to associate the song’s catchy beat and message encouraging individuality and independence with the Hilfiger brand. This cobranding says that the Hilfiger experience and lifestyle are free flowing, fun, and fashionable. Estelle also embodies a modern nexus of European and American style, which Tommy Hilfiger strives to do as well. Her most famous 2008 single, “American Boy,” topped European charts, went Platinum twice in the United States, and earned Estelle a Grammy. “American Boy” established Estelle’s roots on both sides of the Atlantic, and Tommy Hilfiger wants to piggyback on her Euro-American identity. By setting the video to “Do My Thing,” Tommy Hilfiger associates its clothing with Estelle’s independent, exciting, and international identity.

When I watched the Tommy video, I saw Naomi Klein’s brand theory in action. The film never showed a price tag or directly communicated about the quality of the clothing. Instead it used various film angles, family members, status symbols, and Estelle to communicate the Tommy lifestyle of pleasant worldly luxury. If Hilfiger apparel can buy this experience, who can resist? Tommy would say almost no one.

Hilfiger Links:

Tommy Hilfiger Video
"Do My Thing" by Estelle

More Video Ad Campaigns:

Chanel Ad Campaign

Gucci Ad Campaign

This closing NEEDTOBREATHE song has the perfect message for approaching advertisements: Keep Your Eyes Open