Essential Neon Launch

Client: RIMOWA

Experience design
Art direction
Curation & programming
Marketing & PR
Talent management
Event production
Content capture & creation

How does a luxury travel brand drive global buzz around an exclusive collection?

A tool of purposeful travellers worldwide, RIMOWA is a global leader in premium luggage manufacture and design, with quality and innovation at its core. Combining heritage and craftsmanship with the rigours of modern technology, RIMOWA designs travel objects with intent, and a perfect harmony of function and form.

Bringing global mobility to a halt, the events of 2020 saw travel and lifestyle operators reshaping their brand strategies to evoke inspiration and desire, moving away from tactical product messaging. Where previously travel allowed for regional activity and collection launches, limited mobility meant brand moments had to have the ability to reach far wider audiences than before.

And so after a year defined by stasis and the social distance between us, RIMOWA leveraged A Semi Permanent Hotel’s omni-channel approach for the global reveal of its Essential Neon translucent luggage collection — an online exclusive unveiled in Sydney, Australia, amplified digitally to an audience around the world, two months prior to launching on Rimowa.com.

RIMOWA Essential Neon Hotel Room Lily May Mac — Tastemaker Lily May Mac in RIMOWA's Essential Neon Hotel Room

“The omni-channel format of A Semi Permanent Hotel presented a unique opportunity for RIMOWA to engage both local, and global audiences when launching our online-exclusive Essential Neon range. The physical event supported our brand awareness and client acquisition market goals, and the digital amplification meant the activation reach was ten-fold. The influence of the people in the room, and post-event KOL gifting drove significant social buzz for the brand.”

Melissa Chau, Head of Marketing & Communications (APAC) – RIMOWA

Completely void of natural light, we transformed a hotel room into an immersive light experience representing the pink and lime colourways of the luggage collection. Neon tubing lined the room, seamlessly transitioning from fluorescent pink to citrus lime, elevating a hero installation of the complete Essential Neon range.

In the adjacent room, RIMOWA’s Never Still and Personal bag collections drove a deeper understanding of the RIMOWA brand universe, with backpacks, handbags and carry cases, positioned on plinths that appeared to have sprouted from the surface and material they sat upon.

Digitally, Highsnobiety was the first to unveil the Essential Neon collection online.

126 new client data captured

1,012+ stickers distributed

2.7m+ KOL reach

247k+ digital impressions

4X benchmark engagement rate

13.8% click through rate

To coincide, Semi Permanent designed a bespoke three piece physical sticker collection with RIMOWA, exclusive to the hotel experience and guests. Distributed by a theatrical cast of roving talent, tasked with the embodying a discerning RIMOWA traveller embarking on their next voyage, the cast members engaged guests in conversation around the future of travel and mobility while accessorised with core pieces from RIMOWA’s Never Still and Personal collections.

Post event, Semi Permanent was tasked with Australian KOL engagement and gifting, delivering RIMOWA luggage to leading tastemakers and hotel guests @oneruel, @flume, @miniswoosh, @gabwallerdotcom, and @bellathomas, resulting in 7 tagged Instagram posts and an estimate reach of 1.6m+