Can Samsonite and new John Lewis denim jig their way to unlikely success?

Do you ever remember any of those ads – and there seem to be more of them than ever – featuring bright young things jigging about in the cause of fashion or, more recently, the wonders of their latest mobile?

Not very often we’d surmise (although we’re hardly in the target market), especially in the cause of mobile.

You certainly don’t expect this treatment for luggage but that’s exactly what you get from Samsonite in this new campaign from photographer (and now director) Rankin and his The Full Service agency.

This looks like Rankin’s model B-team but they’re pretty enough and it’s lively enough to be memorable. Samsonite though? These days, when even British Airways seems to be trying to morph into Ryanair, its bulky containers may be struggling. Can you get them into the overhead locker? So maybe they have to be a fashion item.

Meanwhile, back at John Lewis, adam&eveDDB is launching ‘AND/OR – denim made in LA’ for the venerable department store cum online retailer that’s currently struggling a bit. The new range is apparently designed in LA. Much jigging around here too although there’s a characteristic A&E touch in the breast-feeding yummy mummy.

John Lewis for trendy denim? Or maybe just trendy enough denim (I see that more-ripped-than-ever jeans are back, although not necessarily from LA). Steers the line with A&E’s customary expertise.

Don’t get the Samsonite strategy but Rankin and co. do a pretty good job. MAA creative scale: 7.

Ditto John Lewis’ AND/OR (sounds like a new generation media agency) although it’s a good enough ad. So that’s a 7 too.