Luxury travel lifestyle brand TUMI appointed South Carolina-based Erwin Penland as its agency of record, tasked with all creative and strategic duties.
Erwin Penland will develop and produce a series of product-based brand initiatives for TUMI, handling both creative and media. These initiatives will include fully-integrated campaigns featuring digital, print, OOH and social components. The agency’s first work for the client is expected this May.
The appointment marks the third new business win for Erwin Penland in the past six months, following Hello Products and Califia Farms. It also follows shortly on the heels of a leadership change last month, with Williamson and COO Allen Bosworth assuming co-president roles following the departure of Joe Saracino for Chick-Fil-A (an Erwin Penland client). Saracino took over the president role in January, following Joe Erwin‘s retirement. The Martin Agency veteran Mike Lear also joined the agency as executive vice president, executive creative director in January. Last November, however, the agency engaged in a round of layoffs following the loss of work in a Verizon consolidation.
“Erwin Penland has the kind of integrated offering we need to reach our target customer across multiple platforms,” said TUMI creative director Michael Petry. “We are confident they are the right strategic partner to help us grow our business exponentially.”
“This is a good one, and we are genuinely excited,” added Erwin Penland co-president and chief creative officer Con Williamson. “Tumi is just one of those brands that everyone knows and already has a massive following, but looking behind the curtain at the amount of innovative, cool stuff these guys are creating right now, we really feel like we’ve come on board at an amazing time. It’s going to be fun.”