Tommy Hilfiger Forms Creative Alliance With VH1 to Produce Fall 1999 Television Advertising Campaign

Business Wire, August 10, 1999

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Aug. 10, 1999--

Thirty-Second Spots to Feature The Rolling Stones,

Lenny Kravitz and Jewel

Tommy Hilfiger's "Year of Music" continues to gain momentum with the announcement that he will join forces with VH1 to develop and create a series of music-themed television commercials set to air this fall.

The three individual 30-second spots will highlight the styles of The Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz and Jewel. Each commercial will feature a variety of mixed-media images of the artists, accompanied by their original music and voice-over narration by Tommy Hilfiger, focusing on their style and influence on his designs. The Rolling Stones appeared in Hilfiger's spring 99 print campaign, while Lenny Kravitz and Jewel star in his fall 1999 campaign for men and women, respectively. The fashion designer is also in discussions with several additional artists to appear in similar spots.

"We always seek the best possible partners in everything we do," said Tommy Hilfiger. "When we decided to develop a television campaign about musicians and their influence on fashion and style, VH1 was the natural choice. They are one of the world's leading music authorities, and although they are not an advertising agency, there is no better partner to help us bring our vision to life."

"Since the days of Elvis, fashion and music have been joined at the hip," said John Sykes, President of VH1. "No designer today personifies that relationship better than Tommy Hilfiger."

Appearing on VH1, MTV and spot network television during top rated shows, the rotation will begin in mid-September and run throughout the year.

In January, Tommy Hilfiger launched his exciting year devoted to music-related endeavors by simultaneously sponsoring the Rolling Stones "No Security" Tour. Since then, he has announced additional projects including tommy girl fragrance's sponsorship of the Lilith Fair and Tommy Jeans' sponsorship of Britney Spears' North American Tour, both of which are touring the country throughout the summer. Most recently, he announced the sponsorship of Jewel's SPIRIT Tour, which hit the road in June and ends in August, and Lenny Kravitz's Freedom Tour which begins next month and continues through October.

In December, Tommy Hilfiger will sponsor The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute exhibition, entitled Rock Style. The fashions of major rock artists who have most influenced style from the 1950's to the present will be highlighted in this exhibition organized by The Costume Institute and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

Tommy Hilfiger Corporation (NYSE:TOM), through its subsidiaries, designs, sources and markets men's and women's sportswear, jeanswear and childrenswear under the Tommy Hilfiger trademarks. Through a range of strategic licensing agreements, the Company is expanding its product lines to offer a broader array of apparel, accessories, footwear, fragrance and home furnishings. The Company's products can be found in leading department stores and specialty stores throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and other countries in the Far East.

VH1 introduced its award-winning "Go Behind the Music" image campaign in January 1999, featuring some of rock's most legendary figures and most powerful new voices, among them Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jewel, Shania Twain, John Mellencamp, Mariah Carey and Pete Townshend. VH1 has enjoyed the highest-rated year in its history, with the second quarter of 1999 the highest-rated quarter ever in primetime among both households and pivotal P18-49 demographic, and the highest-rated quarter ever on a total day basis among households. The second quarter of 1999 was also the channel's 12th consecutive quarter of year-to-year primetime growth among P18-49.

VH1 produces and programs a wide variety of music-based series, specials, live events and acquisition based programming that keeps viewers in touch with the music they love. VH1 is a registered trademark of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, Inc. MTV Networks owns and operates five cable television programming services - MTV: Music Television, M2, VH1, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, and Nick and Nite's TV Land - all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks.