What do Rihanna, Patti Smith, LeBron James and Roger Federer have in common?

Premium luggage company, Rimowa has launched its global campaign aiming to inspire a purposeful new era of travel. The campaign features singers Rihanna and Patti Smith, NBA player LeBron James and athlete Roger Federer.

Created in collaboration with creative agency Anomaly Berlin, RIMOWA’s cinematic campaign shares the personal perspectives of four global icons who have powerfully shaped the world beyond their professions. Each icon’s short-format film carries "universal weight and meaning" as it examines each individual's own shift towards a more thoughtful approach to travel. Featuring snapshots of their lives on the road, the campaign is an intimate look at what travel has historically meant to each of them and how they’re now redefining it. It would also include home footage by the icon themselves. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached for additional information in regards to the campaign. 

Inspired by the seismic global changes of the past two years, Hugues Bonnet-Masimbert, CEO at RIMOWA said that the campaign’s narrative probes important questions about the new role that travel will play in everyone's lives. "As we look to the future, we follow the example set by our four icons, who have each used this period of pause to reset their expectations and experiences of travel into something even more meaningful," he said. He added that the company has always believed in purposeful travel, and it's a value that carries even more of importance today as the company moves into an exciting chapter. 

For entertainer, fashion designer, and business mogul Rihanna, the pandemic inspired an entirely new form of movement. Grounded in California, she took her Airstream caravan out for moments of escape in the nearby desert. Shot by photography protégé Gray Sorrenti, Rihanna’s film sees her enjoying moments of stillness and solitude away from her usually frenetic schedule. “When everything is minimised, you see what’s important,” she muses aloud in an unscripted moment of reflection.

Writer, performer and visual artist Patti Smith retreated to her house in New York City, The Rockaways during the pandemic. Shot by friend and creative collaborator Steven Sebring, her film follows her journey back to the heart of Manhattan. Pictured outside locations that have played an important role in Smith's life, the film features places such as One Fifth Avenue, where she posed for the album cover of Horses, and Electric Lady Studios, which was established by Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and used for the RIMOWA recording

Smith has also written "Never Still", a poem to serve as the beating heart of the anthem film. Written for RIMOWA as an ode to movement, Smith's poem captures the inherent human need to travel as everyone searches for “new pages for our story.” Over the course of the campaign’s launch, individual lines from Smith’s poem will be revealed in six key cities around the world which include Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, to place their meaning in new contexts.

Meanwhile, as an NBA star LeBron James has spent his career travelling across the country surrounded by crowds of fans. With that taken away, the athlete and influential philanthropist enjoyed the opportunity to focus more on his family and the community he supports through the LeBron James Family Foundation. With footage by Philip Templeman and Jonas Lindstroem, James’ film features a medley of snapshots that capture the athlete’s shifting mindset towards a more in- intentional way of travelling and the importance of the company he keeps on his journey.

“Travel as we knew it is over. Now it’s not about how far you go, but why you go. And who you bring along for the ride,” James says in his reflective film. “For the first time in my career, the constant travel stopped for a period during the pandemic. It gave me a chance to recalibrate and refocus on what’s most important in life, and for me, that’s family,” added James.

Tennis champion Roger Federer has always grown up on the road. After championships were cancelled during the pandemic, this relentless pace was exchanged for a more settled period that allowed him to explore sights closer to home. With footage from Karim Hu Doo, the film shows Federer’s return to the snow-topped mountains of his native Switzerland. “Like many others, I became accustomed to a demanding travel schedule that allowed little time to appreciate the places I was visiting,” says Federer. “But the pause that came with not being allowed to travel allowed me a new perspective. It gave me a chance to connect with the beauty of my surroundings in a much more meaningful way,” he added. 

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