AirAsia brings culture, adventure and bold colours in American Tourister collab

AirAsia and American Tourister is encouraging millennial and Gen Z travelers to express their individuality and explore the world with its new collaboration. The collaboration sees the release of the 'Funseekers' collection, featuring the luggage brand's Spinner 55 luggage and a crossbody bag. Both products come in a bold red - reminiscent of AirAsia's brand colour - and black. 

The products and its designs also take inspiration from AirAsia's cabin experience such as the red seat belts as the crossbody bag's strap, cabin crew uniform colours and AirAsia's black leather seats and red-hot seat covers in the form of a thin strip across the front of the bag. 

In conversation with A+M, Rudy Khaw, CEO of AirAsia brand co. (Abc.) said that the collaboration is part of AirAsia's strategy to expand the brand via collaborations and licensing deals. He added that the collaboration is a great opportunity for the airline to engage a new set of audience while still maintaining relevance to its existing fans. 

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"American Tourister and AirAsia are brands that are young at heart, adventurous, bold and accessible," Khaw told A+M.

"The synergy between us is undeniable in terms of product value, accessibility and just as importantly, quality. The brand attributes were such a match as well and we felt a collaboration would provide new ways to engage both brand's audiences while also expanding our respective reach," added Khaw.

The Abc. CEO stated that American Tourister also shared the same belief in AirAsia's idea of engaging a younger demographic through culture and community.

The collaboration between AirAsia and American Tourister did not just stop at a new collection. According to Khaw, Abc. also led the creative direction for the brand assets with its creative director Regan Mathews (@takubeats) at the helm and Gaku (@gakuyen) filming the collection's video and photographing the campaign assets.

To market the collaboration, Abc. selected and engaged talents and creators to work on the campaign. With Gaku shooting video, Abc. leaned into his following across platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. At the same time, 'behind-the-scenes' and 'how-to' videos further amplified the campaign beyond its usual materials, explained Khaw.

Meanwhile, Abc. tapped into talents Hiep (@hiepng) and Oliv (@babyoliv62) to appeal to photographers, DJs and musicians or artists to further their reach into various communities. 

"All of this provides an additional layer of organic engagement coupled with American Tourister's efforts in-window displays across stores, digital marketing and on-ground activations," said Khaw.

Given how AirAsia has a large database of travellers, Abc. was also able to promote the new collaboration to an audience where such a product would have high relevance. This provides the collaboration a multi-faceted approach that covers both tactical and brand-building objectives, explained Khaw.

A+M has reached out to American Tourister.

Outside of AirAsia, American Tourister has collaborated with other brands and companies, including Kiztopia. The collaboration sees the launch of the "Where wheel you go?" travel collection that is specially designed for kids, as well as an ad.

The ad starts with three children playing a board game in a bedroom. They are later transported into a jungle, luggage in hand, and are approached by a character named Drago who takes a picture of them. They are later transported to the beach where they build sandcastles and play and dance with a character named Happy. As night befalls them, the children head to a lively carnival where a character named Tiger is seen manning one of the game booths. The children play and win stuffed toys.

The ad ends with the three children transported back to their bedroom with their luggage.

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