How American Tourister got Siddhant Chaturvedi to sing instead of sell

In an era where the skip button has become Gen Z's favourite tool versus ads, and attention is as fleeting as a social media story, American Tourister has packed its marketing prowess into a rather unconventional suitcase—a full-fledged music video that's more Billboard than billboard advertisement.

The luggage brand's latest campaign, 'Everyone's In', features Bollywood actors Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi, but don't call it an advert. It's a bona fide musical offering that's found its way onto Sony Music's channel and streaming platforms, prompting listeners to add it to playlists rather than simply endure it between their favourite tunes.

For eight years, American Tourister travelled alongside cricket legend Virat Kohli, a partnership that helped elevate the brand's premium positioning. However, as Anushree Tainwala, executive director of marketing at Samsonite South Asia, explains, "We had both a feeling, Virat as well as us, around 2023, that the synergy that existed between us was no longer making sense. We've always been a young brand, and Virat had completed his journey, so to speak, and become a mature player."

The partnership ended last year, and the brand was ready for its next journey—a sharp pivot towards younger audiences.

"We realised that we wanted to make a sharp pivot and talk to the Gen Z consumer. So far, our focus had largely been on the millennial consumer," Tainwala reveals.

After cricket, what unites India most? Music, of course. This epiphany led American Tourister and their agency partner Famous Innovations down a path less travelled in brand marketing.

"We wanted to do something in the music space; why not go all out? Partner with someone who is actually the best in the space and really create something that's beyond an ad," says Tainwala.

The making of a brand anthem

The campaign wasn't conceived overnight. According to Mithila Saraf, founding partner and CEO of creative agency Famous Innovations, the journey began a year ago when American Tourister underwent a global repositioning.

"We first started with a brand workshop. We had all the key stakeholders from the agency as well as the brand," explains Saraf. "After about a three- or four-month strategic exercise, we decided collectively that what we are going to create for American Tourister is the theme of inclusive travel."

This insight birthed the tagline "Everyone's In"—a nod to Gen Z's approach to travel, where mingling with new cultures trumps merely ticking tourist sites off a list.

Interestingly, the campaign was music-first. Before any storyboarding began, the team collaborated with Sony Music, bringing on board Jonita Gandhi and music composer Vayu to create the track.

Siddhant's secret talent

In a twist worthy of a feel-good film, Siddhant Chaturvedi's role as a singer wasn't part of the original script. While shooting the video, a casual conversation revealed his vocal talents, and the rest, as they say, is marketing history.

"Siddhant's singing actually happened much later. There was no plan initially," Saraf shares. "It came up in a very casual conversation on set while we were shooting... We jumped on the idea and requested him to sing, and he agreed."

The entire campaign took about three to four months to come together, with the actual shoot and release happening within a single month. The extended timeline was primarily due to coordinating with Sony's elaborate marketing plans, which included activating over 200 influencers to amplify the message.

Media strategy

What sets this campaign apart is its distribution strategy. Rather than launching on the brand's channels, the music video debuted on Sony Music's platform—a deliberate choice to reach genuine music lovers.

"We chose to host the song actually on Sony Music's platform as opposed to our platform because that's where we felt that music lovers would organically go to listen to something new," explains Tainwala.

The strategy extends beyond YouTube. The track has been strategically placed across streaming platforms like Spotify and JioSaavn, targeting music enthusiasts in their natural habitat. Shorter ad versions have been deployed for IPL broadcasts, backed by substantial digital investment across Meta, YouTube, and travel portals.

This audio-first approach was intentional, designed to create content that people actively seek out rather than avoid.

"The idea was that you hear this song enough number of times that you're curious enough to check out the video, and that's where the brand gets integrated," says Tainwala. "With Gen Z especially, there's so much content being thrown at them today that unless you're creating something that's truly watchable, it's very easy for them to skip."

An out-of-home campaign is set to follow in May. 

More than a one-hit wonder

The campaign coincides with India's travel season and the launch of new American Tourister collections, several of which feature in the music video itself. But 2025 promises to be more than a one-campaign year for the brand.

"We started off with this big campaign launch and a launch of a whole new collection, but we're going to follow this up with a whole bunch of collaborations," Tainwala reveals. These include partnerships with a famous Indian designer (set to be unveiled in May), Netflix (to be announced in June), and a children's collaboration with the Smurfs movie in July.

The brand is also exploring unconventional marketing initiatives, including a vox pop with the cast of the show Mismatched, a social experiment in collaboration with the restaurant chain Social, and a UGC-generated "Music House" where consumers can create their own versions of the track.

As for the campaign's longevity, it's designed to be more evergreen than ephemeral. "We're not necessarily looking at it as a one campaign spike only but something that kind of lives beyond," says Tainwala. "It's a brand point of view that we want to own for the next few years, not just for one season."