So what’s next?

As the iconic brand Tommy Hilfiger is rising as one of Australia’s most respected brands, I think to myself how it began and from where it originated. Since the Tommy Hilfiger brand has grown in Australia, more standalone stores have been launched, from Maroochydore and Indooroopilly to Melbourne Emporium (Hui-Miller, 2019). The brand has also launched an Australian e-commerce site, and our shores have reportedly experienced double-digit growth. “We’re energising our brand, we’re expanding our brand worldwide but we have a really big and growing fan base here in Australia, so we’re bringing here the latest product – lots of new Tommy Denim designs, lots of new footwear accessories, all the new trends from collaborations with Lewis Hamilton and Zendaya,” Hilfiger said. “We are also energising the brand to open new stores and bring the same resources and quality we have in Europe, the US and other parts of the world to the citizens of Australia” (Hui-Miller, 2019).

Digital showroom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVTlAcvmmvg

However, how do consumers interact with their social platforms with the rise of this brand, and how is their experience both in-store and online? TOMMYNOW runway show and global media network at the 2017 World Retail Congress Awards ceremony held in Dubai on April 6 for its Fall 2016 runway show. Hilfiger’s show was a see-buy-now initiative which also featured Gigi Hadid’s collaboration. This lead Tommy Hilfiger to win the “Best Customer Service Program In-Store” award. The merchandise was immediately available through 70 channels worldwide, including brick-and-mortar stores from Tommy Hilfiger, and also featured a live stream enabling those watching to shop every look on Tommy.com right away. For online, The event also saw the launch of TMY.GRL, the Facebook Messenger conversational commerce bot powered by artificial intelligence. In addition to interactive touch-screens that allowed customers to shop the line from multimedia outlets, two TommyxGigi pop-up shops were on-site at the event. Customers may also use social media sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook to shop the collection (Fraser, 2017).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelarthur/2016/09/11/tommy-hilfiger-launches-chatbot-on-facebook-messenger-to-tie-to-gigi-hadid-collection/#40548c5a2238

By researching how this brand is successful and not so successful in some areas of its marketing, I will be able to highlight these to my target audience, which includes both Tommy Hilfiger’s marketing team and those interested in getting into the marketing field.

TOMMY GOES ABROAD

17 years ago, though at the time Hilfiger and his CEO, Fred Gehring, were calibrating the company in the U.S., they saw the company’s growth into new markets throughout Europe and Asia as an opportunity to create a luxury fashion label. Instead than rapidly becoming readily available, they concentrated on developing high-end brick and mortar shops. Tommy Hilfiger storefronts in Singapore, for example, are near Lacoste, Yves Saint Laurent and Ted Baker. “We were putting the shoulder-to-shoulder brand with the world’s best premium and luxury brands,” says Hilfiger. However, over time, the brand has slowly built up a large presence around the world, with 1,500 stores worldwide, of which almost 500 are in Europe (SEGRAN, 2016). This tactic seems to have succeeded, as solid international sales accounted for the overall year-over-year growth of the brand’s 4 per cent (Bells, 2016).

Research plan

Observation reflects a systematic approach to data collection. Researchers use all their senses to analyse people in natural settings or circumstances which occur naturally. Observing the setting of a field involves extended involvement in an environment or social condition. Auto-ethnography is a method of qualitative analysis in which an author uses self-reflection and writing to explore anecdotal and personal experiences and to relate these autobiographical stories to broader cultural, political, and social meanings and understandings.

I am wanting to use the different methods of observation and Auto-ethnography to research my media niche, and I am going to use these different methods to analyse my own experience with my media niche. By focusing on certain platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. This will provide me with an understanding of how people interact towards this brands marketing tools and what leads them towards their purchasing decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwhK-iEyXYA

Five steps I plan to take when collecting my data include;

  1. determining what information I want to collect
  2. set a timeframe for data collection
  3. determine my data collection method
  4. collect my data
  5. analyse the data and implement my findings

Further when conducting my research I plan to conduct some of the following methods’

  1. Surveys – This will allow me to directly ask customers for information. This will further allow me to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data.
  2. Social media monitoring – This will allow me to monitor hashtags/ mentions of the brand by regularly searching the brand’s name and setting up alerts.
  3. Literature sources – (Secondary data) involves the collection of data from the already published text available in the public domain. Literature sources can include textbooks, government or private companies’ reports, newspapers, magazines, online published papers and articles.
  4. Interviews – a qualitative method of data collection whose results are based on intensive engagement with respondents about a particular study. 
  5. Observation – method of information gathering used by monitoring participants in a specific situation or environment at a given time and day. Researchers observe the behaviour of the surrounding environments or people that are being studied. 

Observation

  • What posts come up on their socials?
  • What demographic mostly comments and reacts to the brand?
  • Do they communicate with their fans and how?

Auto-ethnography

  • Why do I purchase their products?
  • What is my experience when purchasing their products?
  • How do I feel when I wear their products?

Below is a quote from one of our week one readings, Daymon Christine and Holloway Immy (2011) ‘Ethnography, Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications’. 

“Ethnography is both a research methodology and the product of that research, that is, a written description of a culture which is based on the findings of fieldwork. Ethnographic research may be both qualitative and quantitative, but in public relations, marketing communications and other people-focused disciplines it is usually qualitative.”

Therefore, the approaches that I have mentioned here are all ethnographic research methods and this is why I will be truly immersing myself into the world of journaling. I would like to find out as much as I can when it comes to marketing.

Research schedule

Throughout this semester I will be focusing each week with a different aspect of my ethnography research, by gathering information from different social media platforms and also by conducting different interviews, polls and surveys to gain qualitative and quantitative data, and collecting physical data from individuals and their own opinions on this particular media niche. 

Below is a Gantt chart I created to roughly show my process of using these ethnographic research methods and methodologies. 

Through conducting this research it will help me to develop my understanding of the market and to identify areas of improvement for the brand.

References

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