Lessons from an iconic fashion brand.
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George Lois, the legendary New York ad man, sadly passed this month. Here's the story of how he helped Tommy Hilfiger's brand become iconic. It's a good one.
“When your name is spelled out in 10ft-high letters over New York's Times Square you can be pretty sure that you've finally made it. Not always, however: egged on by legendary advertising art director George Lois, Tommy Hilfiger decided to do things the other way round. "I had no idea who George was," admits Hilfiger. "He was introduced to me as the perfect advertising genius. Then I was told he didn't do fashion advertising, so I was a little confused about why we were speaking to him. I was hoping that we'd have someone like Peter Lindbergh shoot a campaign but George marched into my office and said, 'No, you can't do that.' It was a little scary."
So, back in 1986, the arrival of his eponymous fashion brand was heralded by a giant billboard in the heart of Manhattan theatreland comparing the then-unknown Hilfiger with the triumvirate of American greats (and household names) — Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Perry Ellis. "Actually, his first idea was to show pictures of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein with a big X drawn through them," explains Hilfiger, "saying these are the old and a picture of me saying he is the new. I said, 'Absolutely not!
I can't do that. I won't do that!'"
Hilfiger's initial ideas were running more along the lines of taking some young models out to the Hamptons on the sand dunes and photographing them against the ocean. "George said, 'Are you crazy?
You can't do that. It will take you 20 years to build a brand that way.'" To prove his point Lois showed boards with adverts for Armani, Versace and a whole host of other designers. He had taken the names off the artwork and challenged Hilfiger to identify the brand by the image. "It was almost impossible, so he convinced me that we should be doing something very different."
Lois then showed Hilfiger the campaign he had in mind. "I told him I wouldn't do it and that it was embarrassing and obnoxious, but my partners pointed out that we didn't have a lot of money at the time and had to get the name out there as effectively as we could so I reluctantly agreed. It was the first time I considered quitting the business and putting my head in the sand. I was so embarrassed and it was so unnerving. After it ran, I thought it was horrible and [I asked myself] why did I listen to them? I told myself I should have gone with the models on the beach."
Some people may indeed have thought that Hilfiger was obnoxious, but Lois was proved undoubtedly correct. And the man who had not long before considered changing his name to Tommy Hill because it was easier to pronounce soon found that he was himself a household name.”
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