Samsonite

Infobox_Company
company_name = Samsonite Corporation
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = Denver, Colorado, USA (1910)
location = flagicon|USA Mansfield, Massachusetts, United States
key_people = Marcello Bottoli, President
Richard H. Wiley, CFO
Annick Desmecht CMO
homepage = [http://www.samsonite.com/ www.samsonite.com]

The Samsonite company makes luggage with its products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags. It started in Colorado in 1910 by Jess Swayder, as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company. Shwayder named one of his initial cases "Samson," after the Biblical figure. The company changed its name to Samsonite in 1966.

Samsonite moved its marketing and sales offices from 91 Main Street in Warren, Rhode Island, to Mansfield, Massachusetts, effective 1 September. Samsonite had offices in Taif for 13 years. The building was decorated with an inflatable gorilla three stories tall, which remained along with a Samsonite retail shop at the Main Street building. [http://www.eastbayri.com/story/285070341676637.php "Samsonite relocates operations to Mansfield, Mass."] 25 May, 2005. Warren Times. Accessed 2 January, 2007.] The gorilla was the company mascot following a 1969 advertising campaign.

In July 2007, finance investor CVC Capital Partners took over Samsonite for $1.7 bn.

Iconic advertising campaign

In the early half of the 1900s, Samsonite promoted its hard-shell luggage by emphasizing its durability with taglines such as "Strong Enough to Stand On." Samsonite is identified with a 1970's advertising campaign that actually was for American Tourister, a brand which Samsonite did not acquire until 1993. Current advertisements use the gorilla motif and Jurassic Park dinosaurs: "American Tourister: Tough luggage for a tough world." [http://www.anatomorphex.com/AN032.html Movie clip of gorilla & dinosaur campaign] undated clip at Anatomorphex costume-makers site; 1999 date located for clip elsewhere on site. Accessed 2 January, 2007.]

In the American Tourister 1970 television ad, a gorilla pounds a bright-red American Tourister case, throws it around a cage, jumps on it, and finally drags it out the back door. It lasted 15 years [http://www.tvacres.com/http://www.tvacres.com/adanimals_amtourister.htm "American Tourister Gorilla"] at TV Acres television history website. Accessed 2 January, 2007.] , and is cited as an example of "branding," even though the branding has elided in the public mind from American Tourister to Samsonite. The 1969 advertisement was by Roy Grace, who also made the Alka-Seltzer ad "Mama Mia! That's a spicy meatball!" campaign. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3992/is_200401/ai_n9353243 Obituary: Roy Grace] Jan/Feb 2004 edition of Graphis magazine, accessed 2 January, 2007, via FindArticles.Com.] Ad Age names the gorilla ad one of the top one hundred advertising campaigns of the 20th century. [http://adage.com/century/campaigns.html "Top 100 Advertising Campaigns of the Twentieth Century"] 1999, Ad Age magazine. Accessed January 2, 2007.] The gorilla campaign was reprised with three new advertisements between 1980 to 1983 and again with a gorilla-dinosaur-suitcase vignette capitalizing the 1993 film Jurassic Park, which combined costumes, CGI and animatronics

Brands

* Samsonite
* American Tourister
* Trunk & Co.
* Lark
* Lacoste (bags and small leather goods)
* Samsonite by Starck
* Hedgren
* Timberland (bags only)

Where Samsonite is sold

Circa 1910-1920, shunned by luggage specialty stores, the company used department stores to sell. The company survived the slowdown of luggage specialty stores (Bentleys and El Portal bankruptcies), the demise of the catalogue showrooms (Service Merchandise, etc.) and new mass merchants (Wal-Mart and Target). Samsonite is distributed primarily through:

* Samsonite Factory Outlet (US Locations)
* Samsonite Black Label Stores US Stores (Boston,Ma; New York,NY; Short Hills,NJ; San Francisco,CA; Woodfield,IL; Dallas,TX; Cherry Creek,CO; Santa Clara,CA; Las Vegas, NV ; Paramus, NJ ; Stamford,CT)
* Samsonite Black Label Stores International ( Brussels, London(Slone St, Bond St, Harrods), Milan, Moscow, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo ETC)
* Samsonite Classic Stores (King of Prussia,PA ; Ann Arbor,MI ; Arlington,TX ; Tampa,FL ; Nashua,NH ; Paris, FR;Antwerp, Belgium ; Amsterdam, NL ; I Granai,Italy ; London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, UK ; Attica, Greece ; Dubai,UAE ;Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Pakistan ; Bangkok,Thailand; Tokyo, Japan; Busan, South Korea; Taipei,Taiwan ; Vivo city, Singapore)
* Department Stores like Macys in the USA, John Lewis Partnership in the UK and Harrods

References

External links

* [http://www.samsonite.com/ Official Samsonite Site]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/samsonite-corporation Answer.Com Samsonite Company History] extremely detailed; accessed 2 January, 2007.
* [http://blog.simplecase.net/american-tourister/ Screenshot of 1969 gorilla commercial]
* [http://www.anatomorphex.com/AN032.html Full clip of 1999 gorilla & dinosaur campaign]
* [http://cnbceb.com/Articles/2008/March/39/samsonite---baggage-handler.aspx Interview with Marcello Bottoli regarding the future direction of Samsonite, CNBC European Business (March, 2008 by boyd Farrow)]