Samsonite's Brand Strategy: 'The Product Is the Hero'

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Image: Flickr, Don O'Brien

By T.L. Stanley2014-05-05 17:00:49 UTC

Samsonite products have been charged by a bull, caught in revolving doors, tossed out of cabs and mauled by the entire Pittsburgh Steelers football team. But they have not — repeat, not — suffered a beat down from a gorilla.

Rather, that was a bright red piece of American Tourister luggage, not Samsonite, being manhandled by a primate in an iconic 1971 TV commercial. (It wasn't a real gorilla, animal lovers; it was an actor in a monkey suit.)

But Samsonite executives understand, and forgive, the confusion. The company eventually bought American Tourister and revived the gorilla character in its advertising, recognizing a breakout star when it saw one.

Samsonite Slogans: Innovation, Durability and History

Samsonite, meanwhile, hasn't shied away from using toughness as a lynchpin of its marketing through the years. In fact, the heritage brand launched with print ads in 1910 that showed founders Jesse Shwayder and his business-partner brothers standing on suitcases to show how sturdy they were. It was called the Shwayder Brothers Trunk Company in those days, based in Denver, Colorado, but renamed Samsonite in the ‘60s in a hat tip to the Biblical strongman Samson.

Ad taglines have included the swingy 1969 slogan, "If you traveled the way your luggage does, would you look as good as Samsonite?" A bag had to be nearly indestructible, the ad implied, to survive those clumsy skycaps.

Recent campaigns emphasize not just how muscular the products are, but how lightweight and maneuverable they are because of newly developed materials and technology. "Light meets might" serves as a tagline, for instance, for the Lift2 luggage line that debuted in January.

Image: Samsonite

"We really focus on quality, durability and innovation in our messaging," said Stephanie Goldman, Samsonite's director of marketing communications who also handles sibling brands American Tourister, High Sierra and Hartmann. "We make sure it's clear to the consumer what they get if they buy a Samsonite product. The product is the hero of our advertising."

Historically, Samsonite has shared screen time and print ad space with famous folks, like that memorable 1977 TV spot featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers attacking a football field full of hard-sided luggage and doing their worst. (The bags proved to be as brawny as the professional NFL players.) And there was a musical number that same year that featured a young Marilu Henner prancing around a showroom full of bags and singing about a Samsonite sale.

And, Samsonite executives sheepishly admit now, there was a celebrity foray in the ‘90s that didn't catch on with consumers. Sorry, car racer Danica Patrick and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, but your print ads under the “Life's an adventure,” tagline failed to move the needle. Even a logical cross-promotion with Branson's Virgin Atlantic airlines couldn't save the relationship.

And though it's fiction, an episode of AMC's lauded drama Mad Men paired Samsonite with larger-than-life athletes of the day Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. The brainstorms from the show's ad mavens Don Draper and Peggy Olson, in the now famous episode called The Suitcase, never materialized.

A Clear Focus on Unique Features

So, these days, instead of using pop culture figures, sports stars or business leaders, Samsonite focuses almost solely on its unique product features. That's been true for about the last decade, Goldman said. When she arrived at the company in 2005, there was a concerted effort to overhaul the marketing, making the luggage and travel pieces, backpacks, tablet cases and laptop holders the stars of their own campaigns.

Image: Samsonite

That strategy has given rise to TV commercials called "The Wheel and Bullfight," showing how easily Samsonite luggage swivels around on its spherical spinners, and balloon- and kite-filled ads for Lift2 that emphasize the line's light-as-air appeal.

Traditionally a television, print and out-of-home advertiser, Samsonite still relies on those media placements now, but with a decidedly different mix. Commercials on broadcast TV are nearly nonexistent these days, where once they were a staple, and even cable buys are rare. The brand still does its fair share of print advertising in USA Today, Condé Nast magazines, Fortune and other widely circulated national publications.

If Samsonite buys outdoor media, the brand opts for a high-impact, high-profile approach like digital billboards in Times Square rather than one-off ads in airports. For the past four years, the company has done a so-called Penn Station domination in November, where it takes over some 200-plus media units in the busy New York landmark, plastering its message everywhere from stairs and pillars to clocks and rotundas.

"We like to do outdoor with a lot of impact," Goldman said. "We used this past Penn Station buy for our 'Samsonite & Day' campaign, showing that wherever you go, whenever you go, we have products for you."

The brand relied on some local color with slogans like, "Lightweight spinners: In NYC you gotta just roll with it," and "Perfect fit: Like squeezing into a subway car."

Moving the Conversation to Digital

Like some other heritage brands, the company didn't jump feet first into digital media but now turns to it often, especially for college-targeted products, like backpacks and tablet cases.

Prior to 2010, there was no online advertising for Samsonite, Goldman said. That's changed considerably, with some campaigns being 100% digital, using Amazon, Best Buy, Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and other sites, as well as social media platforms. Mobile marketing is now a go-to tool, as well, she said, with product-based ads. The creative work, along with the media buying and placement, comes from the brand's agency, Boston-based Connelly Partners.

To target the marketing and keep the brand fresh, the agency produced a spy-themed, Parkour-laced ad for Samsonite's business bags. The product "adapts to any job," and is "ready for anywhere," according to digital ad placements on GameSpot and other 18-to-34-year-old male-centric sites. An accompanying mini-action film distributed to College Humor and Maxim shows the bag making it through a rooftop run, flips, twists and jumps to elude some fictional bad guys without a scratch or dent.

The move to digital and the brand's innovations in lightweight luggage appear to be working. In 2013, Samsonite's net sales surpassed $2 billion for the first time in the brand's 104-year history, marking a 15% increase over 2012.

Topics: Advertising, Business, Madvertising, Marketing, samsonite, Travel & Leisure