Samsonite Corporation
Type	Public
Founded	Denver, Colorado, USA (1910)
Headquarters	Mansfield, Massachusetts
Key people	Marcello Bottoli, President Richard H. Wiley, CFO Annick Desmecht CMO
Website	www.samsonite.com

The Samsonite company makes luggage 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 name changed to Samsonite in 1966. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Nickname: Location of Denver in the State of Colorado Location of Colorado in the United States Coordinates: , Country United States State State of Colorado City and County Denver[1] Founded 1858-11-22, as Denver City, K.T.[2] Incorporated 1861-11-07, as Denver City, C.T.[3] Consolidated... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... The Luggage. ... A typical suitcase A suitcase is a narrow box-shaped bag, usually made of cloth or vinyl that more or less keeps its shape, has a handle at one end and is used mainly for transporting clothes and other possessions during trips. ... Samson and Delilah, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) This article is about Biblical figure. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ...

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 Warren for 26 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.^[1] The gorilla was the company mascot following a 1969 ad campaign. is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

In July 2007 finance investor CVC Capital Partners took over Samsonite for $1.7 bn. CVC Capital Partners is a European private equity firm. ...

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 ad campaign that actually was for American Tourister, a brand which Samsonite did not acquire until 1993. Current ads use the gorilla motif and Jurassic Park dinosaurs: "American Tourister: Tough luggage for a tough world."^[2] For the feature film based on this book, see Jurassic Park (film). ...

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^[3], 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 ad was by Roy Grace, who also made the Alka-Seltzer ad "Mama Mia! That's a spicy meatball!" campaign.^[4] Ad Age names the gorilla ad one of the top one hundred ad campaigns of the twentieth century.^[5] The gorilla campaign was reprised with three new ads between 1980-1983^[3] and again with a gorilla-dinosaur-suitcase vignette capitalizing the 1993 film Jurassic Park, which combined costumes, CGI and animatronics^[2] Cherry Alka Seltzer Plus Tablet dissolving in water Alka-Seltzer is a name owned by the German Bayer Corporation for a line of medications sold over the counter and taken by means of rapidly dissolving tablets that form an effervescent solution in water. ... Advertising Age is a magazine, chronicling news, analysis, information and data on advertising, marketing and media. ... For the feature film based on this book, see Jurassic Park (film). ... Computer-generated imagery[1] (also known as CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media. ... Audio-Animatronics or just animatronics is a form of robotics created by Disneys Imagineers for several shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. ...

Brands

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

American Tourister is a brand of suitcase. ... For other uses, see Lark (disambiguation). ... This article is about the clothing company. ...

Where Samsonite is sold

A shop at Central, Hong Kong

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 catalog 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 ; Concord,CA ; Nashua,NH ; Paris, FR;Antwerp, Belgium ; Amsterdam, NL ; I Granai,Italy ; London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, UK ; Attica, Greece ; Dubai,UAE ;Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, India ; 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

The following is a list of Kings of Prussia (Könige von Preußen) from the Hohenzollern family. ... Macys Department Store on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan Macys was founded in 1851 by Rowland Hussey Macy as a dry goods store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts. ... For the former (1856-1991) unrelated UK department store, see Lewiss. ...

References

1. ^ "Samsonite relocates operations to Mansfield, Mass." 25 May, 2005. Warren Times. Accessed 2 January, 2007.
2. ^ ^{a b} 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.
3. ^ ^{a b} "American Tourister Gorilla" at TV Acres television history website. Accessed 2 January, 2007.
4. ^ Obituary: Roy Grace Jan/Feb 2004 edition of Graphis magazine, accessed 2 January, 2007 via FindArticles.Com.
5. ^ "Top 100 Advertising Campaigns of the Twentieth Century" 1999, Ad Age magazine. Accessed January 2, 2007.

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External links

• Official Samsonite Site
• Answer.Com Samsonite Company History extremely detailed; accessed 2 January, 2007.
• Screenshot of 1969 gorilla commercial
• Full clip of 1999 gorilla & dinosaur campaign
• Interview with Marcello Bottoli regarding the future direction of Samsonite, CNBC European Business (March, 2008 by boyd Farrow)