Leading luggage brand, American Tourister, has announced major expansion plans in Saudi Arabia, earmarking over $2.5 million over a period of two months starting May.

The company’s aggressive media campaign includes advertisement campaigns across a diverse mix of media encompassing Arab and Asian TV networks, outdoor and market activation programmes. This is the highest media spend by a luggage brand in the kingdom, said a statement.
 
Jai Krishnan, vice president, Middle East, East Africa and SAARC at American Tourister, said: “American Tourister is entering its 80th year. It was born in the USA in 1933. We’ve had this continued tradition over the years of offering the latest designs and the best quality at a great value. We know that this is a combination that the consumers in Saudi Arabia look for in the products they buy and that’s why we believe that the kingdom is a very important market for us.”

“We have, therefore, decided to invest heavily in Saudi Arabia. We organised a series of product launch seminars in the country during which 16 new collections were unveiled to our trade partners,” he said. “Our plan is to double the number of retail outlets of American Tourister in 2012, so that the brand will have the right spread in terms of availability – hence making it more convenient for the consumer.”

“This year’s advertising campaign, starting in May, will be a truly integrated one – we plan to reach the consumers through various media – TV, Print, Outdoor and In-Store. It is going to be a high impact campaign with upto 650 TV exposures per day across channels and will definitely catch the attention of the discerning Saudi consumer,” Krishnan added.

“At the end of the campaign, the brand awareness of American Tourister among the consumers in the kingdom would have increased considerably and we would be the top-of-the-mind luggage brand.”

The advertising, which encourages people to travel and see the world is in sync with the tone of the brand – which is smart, friendly, practical and fun, the statement said.

The company believes that the new campaign “Take on the World” will connect very well with American Tourister’s primary target consumers in Saudi Arabia – which are the family traveler and leisure traveler.

The company had launched an extensive campaign in 2011 under the tagline ‘Go see the world’ aimed to establish the brand as an ideal accessory for the young and family traveler.

It was followed up with a campaign on similar lines which played out on TV and print, but with a different tagline - ‘The world is calling’.

Amrican Tourister also plans to unravel products specially customised for the customers in Saudi Arabia besides launching localised brand development initiatives below-the-line along with their trade partners, it said. – TradeArabia News Service