In February 2016 Tommy Hilfiger was amongst one of the fashion labels that announced to shift their traditional runway show to a direct-to-consumer fashion event. With the clothes becoming available straight after the event, the brand opened up the guest list to a very important and influential party: the consumer.
From customers to members
The shift created a unique opportunity for the brand to build a global community of female Tommy Hilfiger loyalist, targeting 25-35 year old fashion-aware women. In response to this community brief we pitched a unique membership program based on three pillars: democratization, co-creation and connection.
The program kicked off in August 2016 with the global announcement of Tommy X Gigi, a co-designed collection by brand ambassador Gigi Hadid, the world’s first social supermodel.
We brought the nautically-flavored collection to life on a special membership hub on Tommy.com. Unique content from the collaboration was featured in three different phases: the introduction, the first looks and the launch of the collection.
'Ahoy, it's Gigi'
During phase 1 users were taken on a journey behind the scenes. A conversational interface turned Gigi into a real-time tour guide, showing users around the design studio and giving a sneak peek of their special collaboration. The chat was enhanced with a set of unique designed emojis, supporting the nautical theme of the collection.
Gigi - your personal stylist
The introduction was followed by the reveal of the first looks of the collection. The conversational interface was repurposed, this time giving Gigi the role of personal style advisor. A simple swiping mechanism helped users find their favorite looks, each of which could simply be saved in a personal lookbook by hitting the heart button.
Shop your favorites
The third and final phase was a product landing page that presented the full collection, supported by rich content. Users who created a personal lookbook in phase 2 could seamlessly convert their favorite looks into a shopping basket and discover more unique content around the collaboration.
The kickoff of the membership program turned out to be a success: 33.000 users were converted into members in just 3 weeks and sales were up by 50% compared to any other collection launch.
Direct-to-consumer: the first show
The Tommy X Gigi collection launch was quickly followed by the brand’s first ever direct-to-consumer fashion event. Tommy Hilfiger challenged us to transform the runway show into a consumer facing event, where the audience’s role shifted from passive attendants into curators of their own experience.
Welcome to Tommy Pier
Tommy Hilfiger made the headlines during New York Fashion Week in September 2016 with Tommy Pier, a fashion carnival on Pier 16 in Manhattan. The world of Tommy X Gigi was brought to life with nautical rides, booths, food trucks, a Gigi-inspired boxing ring and a vintage Tommy Hilfiger shop. The Tommy X Gigi popup shop delivered on the promise of going straight from catwalk to consumer.
The 2-day event kicked off on Friday night with a runway show for invited press and 1.000 lucky consumers who claimed their ticket to the event within an hour after they became available. On Saturday Tommy Pier opened its doors to the public.
The Together Tour
After a successful Fashion Week launch, Gigi took her line around the world on the Together Tour. The brand ambassador hit up several European and Asian fashion capitals to discover how each city put its own unique twist on her collection.
In an effort to reach out and connect to a larger audience, Gigi teamed up with an eclectic group of influencers in each city to promote her collection. Fashion bloggers were accompanied by influencers with music, art, sports and food backgrounds.
The world's first co-created collection
Tommy Hilfiger and Gigi Hadid extended their partnership for Spring/Summer ’17. The supermodel co-designed another capsule collection and invited fans to influence the looks that would go down the runway by voting for their favorite pieces.
❤ TO BE PART
A designated hub on tommy.com showcased the 4 polo’s, hoodies, bombers and 2 pairs of jeans that fans could vote for. Influencers’ social media, in particular Gigi’s dedicated Tommy X Gigi channel, were the main traffic drivers to the site and also functioned as an alternative voting hub. Fans could not only influence what went down the runway, after submitting their favorites they also had a chance to attend the fashion show in February ’17 on the Santa Monica Pier.
Tommy X Gigi on the boardwalk
To tease the upcoming Spring Summer ’17 collection, we came up with several concepts for short videos that the brand could use pre and post launch on its social channels. The result was a series of upbeat, sunny videos starring Gigi and the famous Santa Monica skater boys, all hanging out on the famous L.A. boardwalk.
