American tourister - survival of the toughest !

A lion met a tiger as they drank beside the pool.
Said the tiger, "Tell me why you're roaring like a fool?"
"That's not foolish" said the lion, with a twinkle in his eyes.
"They call me the king of beasts because I advertise."

A rabbit heard them talking and ran
to his home like a streak.
He thought he'd try the lion's plan,
but his roar was just a squeak.

A fox came to investigate and
had great lunch when he got there.
So, when you advertise, my friend,
be sure you've got the goods to deliver!"




Samsonite tourister amused me with this ad, not because it is the best of creatives I have seen, not also because it would be voted hands down as one piece of an ad that is brilliant but because it does what it is intended to do.. Communicate the virtue of the product to the right people… virtue –durability and reliability as a rugged product and hence usable in long and tedious journeys and the audience- Mass with some class (the price is not that affordable to the mass in total)…

The ad positions the brand American tourister as one great survivor with the super 'Survive Mumbai, Survive the World' … Any one who has ever traveled in a Mumbai local would have experienced the melee and have felt how tough it is to survive (not for Mumbaikars though, because for him this is a regular stuff -commuters playing cards, urchin’s singing, eunuch’s who hang around and hang on to you and hangers in the compartment, commuters shoving and pushing each other with no sense of remorse and the regulars who hang by the door as if it is their birth right….I agree that it most locals wouldn’t go in a Mumbai local train with that kind of a luggage but a tourist could …..

The company's high-end Samsonite range, which is priced in the range of Rs 5,000-25,000, is quite expensive for the middle-class, (which essentially drives the volumes) which instead depends on the fake products which sell cheaper . It is this gap that the company wanted to fill with the American Tourister line, which is priced in the range of Rs 1,000-5,000… I guess the Gap Of Thought is clear and there is a vaccum… the Ad does its job fairly well now we have to wait and watch how the product does in the actual market place…. Together with such decent communication ( decent because it has developed a different positioning , a fairly appreciable, long livable property/idea which is quite extendable to other cities and places as well), and a performing product ( hoping that it would)the goal of lashing brand salience and steadfastly establishing the brand as a maker of reliable luggage will not be impossible .

As of now its a good job folks !!!!

Credits:-

Client: American Tourister
Agency: Contract Advertising
Chief creative officer: Ravi Deshpande
Copywriter: Ravi Deshpande and Malobi Dasgupta
Art Director: Ravi Deshpande
Director:Jeff Balsmeyer
Production House:Far Productions (Jeet Surendranath)
Post Production: Prime Focus