Advertising
In 1985, to help him launch his first collection, Hilfiger hired advertiser and graphic designer George Lois to make a billboard for the center of Times Square in New York City. Instead of models, the ad featured the initials of three well-known fashion designers—"PE" (Perry Ellis), "RL" (Ralph Lauren), "CK" (Calvin Klein), and announced that "TH" (Tommy Hilfiger) was the next great menswear designer. The billboard created a stir in the fashion press and succeeded in creating awareness of the Hilfiger name. In subsequent years Hilfiger and Lois collaborated again on other ads for the Hilfiger brand. One campaign, in 1990, compared Hilfiger's American style with other "iconic American" classics, such as the 1955 Ford Thunderbird and the 1940 Harley-Davidson bike. Hilfiger courted the new hip hop market in the 1990s, and rappers like Puffy and Coolio walked during its runways shows.
From 2002 to 2006, Tommy Hilfiger owned the naming rights to the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theatre amphitheater on Long Island, one of the more popular music venues in the United States. Starting in 2010, in collaboration with New York advertising firm Laird & Partners, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation launched the advertising campaign "The Hilfigers". The campaign features a fictional family of Hilfigers wearing the brand's clothing in fun preppy venues. The first campaign, for fall 2010, was a photoset of a college football tailgate, followed by photoshoots at a tennis court, a rustic holiday party, a camping trip, an Ivy League college, and the beaches of Malibu.
The brand created the publicity tour "Prep World" in 2011, which featured specialty pop-up shops in Paris, New York, London, Stockholm, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, the German island Sylt, and the Belgian town of Knokke. Hilfiger made personal appearances with author and preppy expert Lisa Birnbach, as well as designing a special clothing collection to support the initiative. The brand's 30th anniversary was in 2015, and the company celebrated the occasion with a fashion tour. Among other events, in Beijing in May 2015 the brand recreated their New York Fashion Week runway show internationally for the first time. The couple Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl were also brought in as guest editors for the summer 2015 women's and men's collections.[15] For the fall of 2015, Rafael Nadal is the brand ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger underwear and Tommy Hilfiger Tailored collections. 2015 collections included wedding and American football themes.[16] In February 2015, the football collection was displayed in an American football stadium for fall and winter.[17]
Zendaya was the global women's ambassador for the spring of 2019. She also designed a Tommy x Zendaya capsule collection.[18]
William Chan was the global brand spokesperson for menswear in 2021.[19]
In 2024, Léna Situations became the new Tommy Hilfiger ambassador.[20] The brand has been involved in Formula One, having sponsored Team Lotus, Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes. The brand also has been sponsoring multi-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton.[21] In 2024, the brand signed a partnership deal with F1 Academy, an all-female Formula 4-level racing series founded by Formula One aimed to focus on developing and preparing young female drivers to progress to higher levels of competition. The brand will also support Nerea Martí for the 2024 F1 Academy season.[22]
