- Samsonite tapped Olivia Culpo to front its new "Chocolate Mauve" colorway campaign, the latest chapter of the brand's "It's Not Just a Bag, It's a Samsonite" platform.
- The campaign is set inside a dreamlike high-fashion confectionery, weaving in custom elements inspired by Culpo's signature chocolate cake recipe, connecting her culinary identity to the travel-meets-lifestyle concept.
- The new Chocolate Mauve colorway spans three of Samsonite's bestselling luggage lines: Outline Pro, Elevation Plus, and Better Than Basic, and is available now on Samsonite.com and select retailers.
- The campaign rolls out across North America via digital, social, retail, CTV, and OOH channels.
Samsonite, the travel gear giant founded in 1910, has unveiled its new Chocolate Mauve colorway starring Olivia Culpo as the latest chapter of its “It’s Not Just a Bag, It’s a Samsonite” brand platform.
Set inside a dreamlike high-fashion confectionery, the campaign reimagines travel through a culinary lens, with rich textures, sculptural desserts, and deep chocolate-toned hues at the center.
Custom set elements inspired by Culpo’s signature chocolate cake recipe and pastry artistry are woven throughout the campaign’s creative, adding personality and playful sophistication to the visual story.
This marks a natural fit. Culpo, who recently hosted Netflix’s Next Gen Chef and launched a clothing line with Abercrombie & Fitch in late 2025, has increasingly built her brand at the crossroads of food, fashion, and lifestyle.
She also debuted a partnership with sustainable clothing label NAADAM in October 2025. This campaign is her first known collaboration with Samsonite.
Much like IShowSpeed’s Gen Z-targeted travel deal with Expedia, this Samsonite campaign taps into how today’s consumers seek emotionally resonant, experience-first travel narratives.
Samsonite’s Head of Brand and Marketing Nicole Adriance said Culpo brings an authentic point of view at the intersection of travel, food, and style, exactly where the modern consumer is.
Samsonite has a history of pairing campaigns with personality-driven talent, previously featuring NFL wide receiver Julian Edelman and Top Chef’s Kristen Kish in its #WorkNotWork video series. More recently, the brand tapped Thai actress Urassaya Sperbund for campaigns in Asian markets.
The Culpo campaign, developed by StudioHS and directed in partnership with Gut Feeling Production, is its most sensory-forward North American activation yet, and arrives as the brand similarly leans into immersive storytelling, much like Margot Robbie and Kylie Minogue’s Chanel campaign.
Takeaways
This partnership is a smart move on both sides. Samsonite gets a face that bridges fashion, motherhood, culinary creativity, and aspirational travel; a quadruple touchpoint that few celebrities can credibly offer right now.
For Culpo, aligning with a heritage travel brand while fresh off Netflix and a string of fashion deals further cements her evolution from pageant queen to full-spectrum lifestyle influencer.
The “sensory travel” angle is also worth noting. Brands are increasingly framing travel not as logistics, but as an experience tied to taste, texture, and feeling. This campaign leans hard into that shift, and Culpo’s food-forward identity makes it feel earned rather than staged.
Is the “food meets travel” concept a genuine trend shift for luggage marketing, or just a one-cycle aesthetic play? Could this Samsonite campaign open the door to a longer-term ambassador role for Culpo, similar to what the brand has done in Asian markets?
