Tommy Hilfiger Uses Chatbots to Bring Social Media Ads into the Future

Fashion company Tommy Hilfiger is one of the most recognizable and iconic fashion brands in the world. Founded in 1985 by the titular designer, the company has grown to encompass 1400 free-standing retail stores in 90 countries. Of course, like nearly all other consumer fashion brands in this day and age, Tommy Hilfiger relies heavily on online shopping to drive sales — and they’re on the forefront of social media technology to help them move forward.

Using Chatbots to Increase Sales

To promote their latest Gigi Hadid fashion line, the company took an innovative step in their social media advertising. They employed a chatbot, named TMY.GRL (a throwback to a scent from the 90’s) to interact with visitors — an automated computer program that replies to chat from live people based on algorithms and chat cues.

The chatbot was used on Facebook,  with users being able to ask TMY.GRL in real time about, for example, summer looks, and getting served up specific content that reacted in real-time to their interests (even going so far as to say “good morning” and “good night” at the appropriate times.) The company worked hard to try and capture some of the personality of Gigi Hadid in an effort to not make it seem like a bland and robotic corporate machination.

Hilfiger told TechCruch that it started with “a conversation I had with Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook. We talked about innovative ways to enhance the shopping experience. We’re always a bit ahead of the curve.”

As Puneet Mehta, founder and CEO of msg.ai (the company responsible for implementing the chatbot) elaborated to Forbes:

“The consumer and brand relationship is on the cusp of the most significant change since the smartphone. Messaging is becoming the new browser and the gateway to consumer life, with artificial intelligence bots being the new user interface. With TMY.GRL, Tommy Hilfiger is providing consumers with the digital commerce experience of the future: immediate, individualized, entertaining and seamless across the entire customer journey.”

Lessons for Others

As social media advertising moves into the future, it’s important for advertisers to find new ways to engage with their audience. By utilizing chatbots, they’re finding a way that makes users immersed in the experience, serving them up content personalized for them, without the overhead that would come with live customer service representatives providing the experience. As future generations continue to use their phones, and social media, for everything they do, chatbots will become increasingly the norm. Giving consumers a social media experience with an automated platform.

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