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.