Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Part of developing and managing your companies products is trying to innovate the next big thing. Tommy Hilfiger is testing innovative waters using a BT videoconferencing solution to help design their new garments. These Virtual fitting rooms located in Amsterdam, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo enable designers to communicate and collaborate as they work on new garments and apparel.

The virtual fittings rooms contain mobile cameras and recording facilities to enable the design team based in Amsterdam and New York to collaborate faster and more effectively with the manufacturing team in Hong Kong.By using the technology designers will be able to discuss the development of every single piece of the collection ‘face-to-face’ without having to take long-distance flights to meet up in person.

“We were impressed by BT's knowledge and experience in the videoconferencing area. This, combined with the creative, innovative solution which the BT-Cisco team offered, made the decision easy,” said Fred Gehring, chief executive officer, Tommy Hilfiger Group.

“The solution will bring us an immerse virtual meeting experience and save both time and money. Teams will be able to interact and collaborate as if they were in the same room, making us much more agile and competitive. We look forward to better and more regular communication between our entities across the globe,” he said. 

Ch. 18 -Social Media and Marketing

The best marketing strategy in the world fail if the company is unable to get the right message to their potential customers at the right moment. An integrated marketing communications plan is customized by the available budget of time and money to the most effective means for distributing the companies message. No matter how great the product or service, if the potential customers doesn't' know it exists, there will never be an expansion of market or increase in sales. That is why an integrated marketing communications plan has all parts of its tactics working together so that when in contact with the consumer/customer they remember the company when ready to buy. 

                                                                   Marketing Methods

Web site: web site talks about the company. It is informative, easy to use, e-commerce ready. The web site is available at all times, it is ready to speak for your company. 

Advertising: print, online and radio. Choose the advertising medium that gets the message to the target audience where they are likely to be ready to receive it. Use a consistent, repetitive approach to build awareness and recall. 

Marketing Collateral: brochures, case studies, white papers. Materials build and define our brand and provide the customer with an important look at our positioning and messages.

Online Marketing: advertising, opt-in email marketing and links from other sites. Customers are online and we use the appropriate methods to reach and retain them. 

Direct mail, personal selling, networking and many more methods allow your company to get the message to the customer.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Tommy Hilfiger is a brand which originated from a controversial billboard created by George Lois which sparked the attention of millions of Americans. The Branding of Tommy Hilfiger can be deemed successful because of its ability to distinguish it from any other product in the market. Its logo which is the most iconic part of the brand (other then its owner Tommy Hilfiger) contains white and red fields in the central part of the logo which were borrowed from the "International Code of Signals" flag "H" ("Hotel"), which when hoisted alone, means that: "I have a pilot on board." Here, of course, it is the "H" for "Hilfiger". The three major purposes of branding are product identification, repeat sales and new-product sales. When branding becomes successful enough the brand equity (value of the company begins to rise). In the case of Tommy Hilfiger the brand equity of his company allowed him to sell his company for over 3 billion dollars to clothing conglomerate Phillips-Van Heusen.  The price was nearly seven times what Phillips-Van Heusen paid for Calvin Klein in 2003 and nearly five times what LVMH paid for Donna Karan in 2001.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

The Tommy Hilfiger brand is one that can be found in department stores, wholesale stores and stores in between. Prices for their products vary on the seller, making it available to a wide segment of the market. Tommy Hilfiger does not manufacture its product and sells its product to big target markets, while selling its lifestyle. The pricing, location of products and promotion strategy are used to keep their big target market. 

Tommy Hilfiger is a brand who's Relationship selling is highly associated with Sales follow-ups in the long term. From my personal experience Tommy Hilfiger has been a reliable brand that I have been using my entire life. Tommy Hilfiger products are long lasting and have a wide price range accommodating people of different social classes. Not only has Tommy Hilfiger been able to build long term relationships with customers but also maintain long term relationships with such a big target market.