A package deal

Samsonite brings its new image, logo and product line to India, confident that buyers will follow

Who better to represent the quintessential traveller than Richard Branson? The man's even got his own airline, for goodness sake. Samsonite must have been thinking something similar when it signed on the Virgin chairman "" for an eye-popping 2.5 million euro, which he promptly donated to the Virgin Unite Foundation "" to endorse its premium line of Black Label luggage.

Drive past Delhi airport and you can see a larger-than-life image of a genial, smiling Branson sitting astride a Pro-DLX upright suitcase. Across the world, print campaigns portray "inspired world traveller" Branson standing with Samsonite's new collection of "business essentials".

"We wanted a celebrity campaign to drive home the changed image and new product line," explained Marcello Bottoli, president and CEO of the Samsonite Corporation, at the London launch of the new "designer collection", in October 2005.

Branson isn't the only celebrity roped in to plug Samsonite. Australian designer Mark Newson, who as guest designer has created an individual line for the Black Label series, also features in print campaigns that sport the new "Life's a Journey" tagline, as does renowned Spanish flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes.

Samsonite in India may be an upscale brand, but internationally the 95-year-old American luggage manufacturer's products have become increasingly commoditised. That changed when Bottoli came on board in March 2004, fresh from his last assignment as chairman of the board and CEO of Louis Vuitton.

The 43-year-old Italian may have been bubbling over with ideas, but the previous few years hadn't been kind to Samsonite as international travel was hit with a triple whammy: 9/11, SARS and the Second Gulf War. As a result, points out Bottoli, from 2000 to 2004, Samsonite's sales graph stayed at $750 million, "flat as a pancake".

Last year, though, Samsonite Corp grew 16 per cent globally and sales crossed the $1 billion-mark, with pre-tax profits of $120 million. In the first half of the current year, sales had climbed 10 per cent, while profits were up 29 per cent. In the next three years, Bottoli wants the company to grow to $1.5 billion.

That looks do-able, especially given the formidable creative talent Bottoli's brought on board. Samsonite's new global creative director is Quentin Mackay, the man behind the reinvention of British luxury handbag brand Tanner Krolle.

One of his first tasks was to commission research across the US, Europe and Asia on what travellers wanted from their luggage. "Here was an opportunity to marry style and technology," says Mackay.

The findings of the survey backed that claim. Samsonite's studies showed that about more than 20 per cent of customers are strong-minded individuals who want their luggage to make a statement about them. On the other hand, nearly everybody wanted synergy of usage and organisation "" although not pre-determined.

In other words, Mackay needed to design complementing pieces that were small enough to look stylish, yet big enough to stash everything except the kitchen sink inside. And oh, it also needed compartments inside that weren't fixed "" users needed to be able to move them around. Did we say Samsonite's targets looked do-able?

"They are," insists Mackay. He holds up the Pro-DLX range "" part of the Black Label series "" as an example of style-meets-functionality. Aimed at the sophisticated business traveller, the collection includes innovations such as a laptop backpack, complete with gel-infused shoulder straps and a side bottle holder, both of which can be hidden away when not in use.

Inside, a removable sleeve makes room for different-sized notebook computers. There's also a garment bag, whose hanger hook fits on the handle of the expandable, upright wheeled suitcase, leaving the traveller's hands free. "We are now a travel solutions brand, not a luggage brand," declares Mackay.

The jump in positioning is accompanied by a new tagline and a new logo where the trademark swirl has moved from the end to the centre of the brandname. New geographies are being explored "" Japan, China, and east European countries like Russia and Turkey.

The third part of Samsonite's growth strategy is an expansion of its product portfolio. Black Label shoes have already been test marketed in Italy "" "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere," says Bottoli "" and the company is now considering stationery, eyewear and wristwatches.

All of which will be sold at exclusive Black Label boutiques, the first of which opened in Brussels a few months ago. By the first quarter of this year, five more will open in London, Berlin, New York and Singapore; that number will climb to 20 by end-2006.

India, too, will come in for its share of attention. By April, four Black Label stores are planned in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore where prices will begin at Rs 20,000.

Bottoli and Mackay are in no doubt that there is a market for such big-ticket luggage. Mackay says that most travellers change their check-in luggage after three to five years, and cabin baggage pieces every one or two years. That's quite a change from even a decade ago, when people tended to stick with the matched set they bought for their weddings.

That may be the norm internationally, but is it true for India? Bottoli points to the Samsonite showroom in London's posh Bond Street where over 70 per cent of sales are to non-Britishers. Most of these buyers, he says, are from India, Russia and west Asia. "There is money to be made at the top end of the market in India," he declares. "We are not interested in the rest."