American Tourister new campaign launches  trendy backpackers

Conceptualized by Taproot India, the brand's new ad film pans across some mesmerizing landscapes in Australia – with the American Tourister backpacker in tow, of course

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | March 22, 2016

Click on the image to watch the TVC.

Leading luggage and backpacks major, American Tourister, recently launched its new campaign

#TouristerYourEveryday – urging its target consumer group, the young - to travel in style. The brand which has always had a global message, showcases its latest range of trendy backpacks in the television commercial, conceptualized by Taproot India.

The film has been shot in Queensland, Australia, sometime around winter. The backpacks are shown off in the backdrop of the beautiful landscape, to reveal the 'Tourister' feel. Targeted at the youth in the age group of 18 years to 35 years, the campaign will be focused on metros, B metros and B class towns.

Speaking of the latest campaign Anushree Tainwala, Executive Director, Marketing, Samsonite, South Asia Private Limited, said, “Backpacks are one of the fastest growing categories in India. Today, young professionals, college youth and students all use backpacks. While driving your bike or surfing on your smart phone, backpack allows for a hands free experience.  American Tourister is one of the biggest players in this category. The category already contributes to 15 per cent to 20 per cent of our sales. With this campaign we want to remind our consumers that American Tourister is not just your travel companion but also your constant companion in your everyday journey.”

Tainwala pointed out that the American Tourister had been in India for a while. The backpacks are strongly associated with travel bags and tourists. She said, “The basic idea of the campaign was to remind the consumer that American Tourister is not just your travel companion, but your everyday companion. So that was the genesis of the campaign.”

When asked why the ad film did not have a celebrity promoting the brand, Tainwala said, “We don't want to do the celebrity route. Today American Tourister is a strong brand. Having a celebrity is helpful when you start from nothing. That's why for our sister brand, Lavie, we had Kareena Kapoor as our ambassador. So, today it is more about communicating different aspects of our brand to the consumer, not telling them that we exist because we are already in their mind frame. Hence, a celebrity did not make sense for us.”

The organized backpacks market in India is an approximate Rs 600 crore pie, of which the American Tourister's share is 20 per cent. Its backpack sales are to the tune of Rs 120 crores, making American Tourister a close second in the market after Wildcraft. Skybags is on a par with American Tourister, while the rest of the market is evenly spread out among smaller brands, like sports brands and other regional players. While fakes in the market is an issue, the brand hasn't found a way to stop the malpractice, though.

Asked about the creative ideas that have been used to showcase backpacks, Tainwala said, “I don't know what the thinking was for Skybags, but for us, essentially this campaign is about city life, about how a boring city life can be made interesting. The focus constantly was showing the city scape, the journey in a city.”

“While for the last campaign we were trying to target a more urban and metro audience. We chose the landscape of a city, because the connect would be better that way,” she elaborated. “In this campaign and in our previous campaign we've chosen a city landscape because it was matching our story for both the campaigns.”

The campaign revolves around various protagonists, who go about their day's work, be it a picnic with friends or a walk with friends – carrying American Tourister backpacks. The first sequence shows a young boy running behind a bus, saying, 'I take the bus to work, just not the regular one.'

In the second shot, a protagonist says, 'Meetings are important, so is beach-time,' – and he seems to be conducting his office meeting on the beach. In the third sequence, the protagonist says, 'I exercise every day, but not at a gym,' as he gets into a zorb and starts zorbing away across the water.

The last sequence shows a protagonist saying, 'My coffee dates…. are never in coffee shops.' He stands high on a bridge watching the sunset with a friend and pulls out a paper cup of coffee from a pocket in his backpack. In all the sequences, the American Tourister backpack is the protagonist's companion. The TVC ends with the line, 'Tourister your Everyday. Backpacks from American Tourister.'

Pallavi Chakravarti

Commenting on the campaign, Pallavi Chakravarti, Senior Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu India Communication Private Limited, said, “Exploration is at the heart of all American Tourister communication. But while exploring comes easy when you pack your suitcase and leave town, a backpack is an everyday accessory. It's what you carry everywhere on a regular day, be it to work, to the movies or to college. So our campaign blends the brand DNA and the product offering through an interesting proposition - Why not live the tourist lives every day, armed with your American Tourister backpack?”

American Tourister will have a high decibel marketing campaign, focusing more on television, radio, cinema and digital. The brand will spend Rs 20 crores on this campaign. It plans to come up with some special content to connect with the digital audience. Fresh video content is in the offing for another campaign during the year 2016. The latest range of the backpackers cost between Rs 1000 and Rs 2500.

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/

Credits:

Client: Samsonite South Asia Pvt. Ltd.

Agency: Taproot Dentsu India Communication Private Limited

Senior Creative Director: Pallavi Chakravarti

Production House: 30 Seconds of Fame

Director: Uzer Khan

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Info@BestMediaInfo.com