Samsonite “Kerala Is Open Campaign”: Lessons For Advertisers

Recently, Samsonite launched its “Kerala is open campaign” and was lauded by all in the marketing world for a campaign which instantly connected with people. Tourism accounts for 10% of Kerala’s GDP (gross domestic product) and generates about ?33,000 crores in revenue, providing employment to over1.5 million people. After the devastating floods, the tourism sector was greatly affected. As a social responsibility initiative, Samsonite has launched a campaign focusing on reviving tourism in Kerala.
 
Samsonite extended its brand’s essence- ‘travel’ and created a social campaign which had more than 2.5 million views, celebrity endorsements, and generated huge PR. Such campaigns do not just happen, but are well though over strategies which teach many advertising lessons.
 
1.   In a non-differentiated cluttered product category like luggage; brands strive to build consumer preference and loyalty. Emotions and not functional benefits can possibly break the advertising clutter and find a place in consumer’s heart. Research has adequately proved that consumers are most loyal to brands with whom they have emotional connect. Brands which care about issues close to its customers can find that emotional connect.
Lesson 1: In competitive categories, functional benefits have become point of parity, whereas emotional benefits are the ‘new differentiators’.
 
2.   Samsonite could strike that chord with customers by not talking about ‘how good their suitcases are’ but about ‘why should people travel to Kerala’. Traditionally, in a high involvement category, brands follow central route to persuasion i.e. focus on core offering and its benefits. Luggage sits between high involvement complex decision-making products and low involvement routine purchases. Socially relevant emotional campaigns, following peripheral route to persuasion (i.e. focus is on customer, life events and emotions. Product offering is only shown as an enabler) are more adopted by low involvement products (Vicks transgender campaign, Vatika Bold and Beautiful etc.). Samsonite is one of the few brands among non-routine purchases to experiment with social message and follow peripheral route to persuasion.

Lesson 2: Customers may not notice you when you talk to them about ‘what you do’ and ‘why they should buy you?’. However, they do notice you when you tell them a story they care/feel about. Messages wherein brands place themselves in a context and not creating a context are perceived more credible by customers.
 
3.   It is tempting for brands to adopt stories that are trending and issues that generate high emotions among customers (religion, partition, marriage etc.). However, a brand cannot leave its core promise. They need to own a story that resonates with the brand and its ethos. After all, marketing communication is not just about storytelling but telling a story that can enhance sales, loyalty and improve and enhance brand’s performance over time. Samsonite chose a very appropriate cause, which was in line with their brand value of ‘life is a journey’.
Lesson 3: Never leave the essence of your brand. Even though your story may not focus on the brand, but it should be tied with the brand values and make it emerge as the ‘hero’ in the end.  
 
4.   According to media reports, Samsonite has 38-40% market share in India with its many brands catering to different customer segments. It expects its sales to grow 18-20 per cent in India to touch Rs. 1,600 crore by the end of 2018. Therefore, the brand was already on the growth path. In this life cycle stage, brands generally invest on building competitive advantage and boosting sales. Brands that are in mature life stage and are non-differentiated adopt such messaging strategies. Samsung was bold enough to own a social cause and experiment with its communication to break the clutter. It took that chance to invest in building a long-term brand equity with this campaign.

Lesson 4: Brands can never be complacent nor always define their strategies as per the dire needs of life stage. They need to be proactive and ladder up their positioning before the other players in the category to gain that competitive advantage.
 
Overall, the campaign was a refreshing change among advertisements focusing on strength, durability and reliability of luggage to a message that urged people to explore ‘a destination’. The ‘recency’ effect of issue helped Samsonite leverage the emotions. Truly an example of branded content that customers like to see.. like to talk about… eager to read about… and wanting to share… !