Reviving a Classic Brand for Today's Women
Lilly Pulitzer & PMG use TikTok to help consumers create their sunshine
Lilly Pulitzer is an American heritage brand known for its vibrant resort wear. To stay relevant, it needed to reach Millennial and Gen Z women while keeping the loyal customers who had defined the brand for decades.
With Alli, PMG mapped both the current "Lilly Woman" and the younger audiences the brand wanted next, then partnered with 13 TikTok creators across generations. Paid amplification pulsed the best content, and the strongest creators became long-term ambassadors.
The campaign earned 70 million impressions, 446,000 engagements, and 98% positive sentiment, and a 9.7% lift in ad recall.
Lilly Pulitzer, the iconic American heritage brand, turned to PMG to help refresh the brand for a new generation of originals: sunny-spirited women of all ages and backgrounds. Known for its vibrant and rebellious spirit, inspired by its trailblazing founder, Lilly Pulitzer sought to reestablish the brand's relevancy with a new generation of originals. While still embracing its heritage, the brand sought to shift forward and reinforce Lilly Pulitzer as the ultimate destination for chic, elevated, high-fashion resort wear catering to today's sunny-spirited women of all ages and backgrounds. Our goal was to guide the brand in its leap into something new and revitalize its brand identity.
Tapping Tastemakers to Reach a New Narrative
To make this shift, Lilly Pulitzer needed to tap into new audiences and embrace a more inclusive narrative. We delved deep into understanding the current "Lilly Woman" and identified not only our aspirational audiences to expand towards but also formed the plan to bring the campaign to life through influencers most compelling to those audiences who would, in turn, serve as the catalysts for rejuvenating the well-loved brand.
Growing beyond the loyal "Lilly Woman" without losing her meant understanding her and the new audiences at the same time, which the team did in Alli, PMG's operating system. Alli Audience Planner set the current "Lilly Woman" beside the Millennial and Gen Z audiences the brand wanted to win, showing where their tastes overlapped and where heritage fashion needed a fresh introduction.
Our influencer content strategy had three pillars, Discover, Re-discover, and Inspire, and our insights-driven strategy was to use key social platforms like TikTok to shift consumer perception by showcasing fashion credibility, driving conversation, and igniting positive brand engagement.
Creators Brought Lilly's Vibrant Spirit to Life Across TikTok and Beyond
In the first phase of the campaign, we joined forces with 13 TikTok-savvy creators considered Millennial and Gen Z tastemakers. Anna Kai and The Yusuf Sisters showcased Lilly Pulitzer's narrative and unique street style. The timeless appeal of Lilly Pulitzer was brought to life by Excuse My Grandma, a grandmother-and-granddaughter duo, proving Lilly's relevance spans generations. Additionally, Taryn Delanie, a top comedic creator and former Miss New York, brought relatability and charm to the conversation. And Tinx added her magic touch, flaunting her 'Top 3 Lilly Looks' for her vacation, elevating Lilly Pulitzer's styling and fashion credibility among younger audiences.
The top performers were then reactivated as long-term brand ambassadors later in the year and complemented with additional campaign-based creators on TikTok and Instagram. A comprehensive paid amplification TikTok strategy backed all of these influencer efforts, strategically pulsing influencer creative over both phases of the campaign to drive maximum reach and awareness.
Alli put every creator, format, and platform in one view, so the team could tell which creators were reaching which audiences. Planners dug into the results with Ask Alli in plain English, then shifted investment toward the creators and content producing the strongest lift with Millennial and Gen Z audiences.
The diverse influencer-led campaign inspired a new generation, reignited Lilly Pulitzer's brand identity, and set the stage for a vibrant future.
446k Social Engagements 98% Positive Social Sentiment 9.7% Lift in Ad Recall 42% Increase in Brand Conversation
Our launch campaign on TikTok garnered over 70 million total impressions. Audience engagement and response were overwhelmingly positive, with 98% positive sentiment within comments on TikTok and Instagram. Their interest and enthusiasm for Lilly Pulitzer were evident in a brand lift study conducted with TikTok, which measured a 9.7% lift in ad recall and a 42% jump in views of the #LillyPulitzer hashtag.
Alli Brand Equity tied brand and business signals together in real time, giving the team continuous visibility into how the creator-led work was moving both sentiment and brand conversation across TikTok and Instagram. Overall, the campaign delivered more than 446k engagements across platforms, including the brand's commerce site, and successfully helped Lilly Pulitzer embrace its rebellious spirit, inspire a new generation, and solidify its position as the ultimate destination for sunny-spirited originals.
