Earlier this yr, the multifaceted actor John Turturro appeared unexpectedly in a style present for Zegna’s winter assortment, sporting a V-neck sweater and a protracted tweed coat trimmed in fur.
“You’ll really feel that at my age, you don’t get new experiences,” Turturro, 68, advised the New York Occasions. “This was a brand new expertise for me.”
Now, Turturro has had one other new expertise: being photographed in entrance of Grand Central Terminal with a small mountain of bags, making an attempt to hail a yellow cab. It’s the most recent installment of the model’s “It’s not only a bag. It’s Samsonite” marketing campaign, and it debuts at the moment.
“John Turturro was a pure selection,” Samsonite’s senior director of name advertising and marketing Nicole Adriance advised ADWEEK. “He embodies character, craft, and timelessness.”
He does certainly, at the very least judging from evaluations of his roles in movies like Miller’s Crossing and The Huge Lebowski. However the actor’s presence on this marketing campaign undoubtedly says extra about Samsonite than it does about Turturro. With its newest work, Samsonite has signaled its intent to maneuver past being merely a baggage model to being an expression of poise, polish, and panache.
These elusive ideas don’t imply rather a lot whenever you say them, however they do come to life by means of movie star endorsers. The inaugural face for Samsonite’s marketing campaign, which kicked off in June, was Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, of whom the corporate mentioned: “Whether or not it’s early flights, late-night practices, or exhibiting up below strain, his story mirrors that of at the moment’s fashionable traveler: targeted, fast-moving, and outlined by preparation.”
With Turturro, Adriance drew related connections between persona and accent. “Simply as an ideal suitcase improves with each journey,” she mentioned, “John’s legacy as an actor and director deepens with each position.”
For Samsonite, evolving its picture is important work. The $39 billion baggage sector has grown extremely aggressive and, since its founding in 1910, Samsonite—named after biblical he-man Samson—has offered itself totally on power alone. That attribute remains to be related, after all, however not sufficient at a time when manufacturers like Rimowa and Away have elevated baggage to an outlet for private expression.
“Anybody who does any quantity of touring can’t assist however run into dozens of social media baggage adverts swearing that every is essentially the most revolutionary, versatile, and resilient bag you should purchase,” mentioned advertising and marketing strategist Ian Baer, founder and CEO of company Sooth. “I can see this marketing campaign having a variety of enchantment to city millennials and Gen-X vacationers, particularly with the large success of Severance, which launched Turturro to an entire new viewers that will not know him as nicely from his earlier work.”
Samsonite didn’t say a lot in regards to the selection of Grand Central Terminal as a backdrop, although the 1913 railroad station—at the moment serving commuter trains solely—nonetheless conjures pictures of subtle, long-distance journey.
Turturro’s hailing a cab makes extra thematic sense: he lives in Brooklyn.
