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How Away Generated $125M Through Brand Positioning and Content Marketing

Learn the secret behind Away's success as a DTC brand. Their incredible branding, content marketing, launching a print magazine, and using influencers and UGC.

Ben runs the content operation at Mayple. He's got 7+ years in digital marketing, previously worked for an 8-figure eCommerce brand, has published articles on FastCompany, Invoca, Loox, Sindible, and ShaneBarker.

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Natalie is a content writer and manager who is passionate about using her craft to empower others. She thrives on team dynamic, great coffee, and excellent content. One of these days, she might even get to her own content ideas.

Updated February 22, 2024.

Away is another great story. It was founded by two former employees from Warby Parker and Casper, two veterans in the eCommerce industry. The story is that one of the founder’s suitcases broke and she decided that she’s had enough. The co-founders set out to disrupt the relatively stagnant luggage industry. First, they stopped using the word luggage.

No seriously. Luggage is not exciting. Most people could barely remember what their luggage looks like or what color is, they buy it and forget about it. What’s memorable is the trip, the memories. And that’s what the co-founders of Away decided to focus on. Instead of Away being a luggage company, they positioned it to be a travel company.

And they made it a pillar in every aspect of their business. You can even see it in the packaging and print materials that they use:

“People don’t really care about the suitcase they’re buying; they care about the journey they’re about to embark on with that suitcase in tow” - Jen Rubio, Co-founder of Away

Where did Away’s founders get the idea to focus on travel instead of just luggage?

Here is how it all started.

Away’s first production run ended up being delayed and the founders had a lot of time on their hands. So they decided to interview 40 people in the community - from photographers to travel writers - and put together their stories into one travel book called The Places We Return To.

The co-founders then launched a campaign for consumers to pre-order the book and each copy had a gift card for an Awinay product. The book turned out to be a huge success and sold 1,200 copies.

The success of the book changed everything and the founders decided to put a lot of emphasis on telling stories, creating a long-term content strategy, and creating a brand around travel, and not just luggage. Away set out to inspire people about travel. They created a vibrant online community on Instagram and they started publishing a lot of various content pieces.

They even published a travel magazine, which was a really bold move for an eCommerce company. The Here Magazine featured travel guides, top destinations, interviews, and photos around the world. Away really focused on publishing high-quality content about travel that really spoke to their consumers.

They even started a podcast called Airplane Mode back in 2017 to tell stories about travel.

Instead of selling luggage, they were selling the travel experience, the destination, and the memories.

 Brand positioning focused on the customer + a healthy variety of top-notch content = the perfect elements that made Away a $1.4B brand

One of the most important aspects of the strategy is influencer marketing and Away went out to deliberately create content to tell their brand story and portray travel experiences.

Here’s an example from the travel blogger Marlene Lee, who is based in Bali. The entire image really paints the picture of travel and shows such an irresistible view in a hotel room. It takes a few seconds to even find the red Away suitcase under the straw hat.

Here’s another example from Hegia de Boer, who is an influencer that describes herself as a ‘visual storyteller and an occasional traveler. This post got 10,000 likes with an 11% engagement rate (that’s super high).

Phil Cohen, a macro influencer and a 2017 Shorty Awards nominee made an image displaying his travel wardrobe. This is one of the rare images that Away used in their influencer campaign that didn’t depict a traveler or a travel destination.

In reality, this branding technique of storytelling isn’t new. It‘s been written about since the dawn of advertising. It’s a foundational idea of displaying the result of using a product and its benefits to the consumer, rather than trying to shove your product features down their throat.

And this customer-first strategy worked.

The results:

• Over 500K followers on Instagram
• Over 2M visitors to the site per year
• A thriving travel brand that’s worth $1.4B

Want to replicate this strategy for your own eCommerce business? Hire one of our Instagram experts .

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Away Raises $100 Million for Expansion Beyond Selling Luggage

Sean O'Neill, Skift

May 15th, 2019 at 4:15 PM EDT

Away has so far managed the tricky transition to brand extensions beyond suitcases. The established travel goods industry will be watching with envy if the startup can continue to pull off its empire-building.

Luggage maker Away has raised $100 million in new funding.

Wellington Management led the round, which placed a $1.4 billion valuation on the travel goods retailer. The funding brought the New York-based startup’s total equity funding to $156 million since its founding in 2016.

Away sold $150 million in luggage and other products in 2018. It has a goal of doubling its revenues this year.

Jen Rubio, co-founder and chief brand officer of Away, said that since early last year the company had successfully broadened its sales from an initial focus on suitcases.

Rubio said the company would use the funding to help develop more travel-themed products, such as apparel, wellness, and lifestyle accessories. Away, which has seven stores, intends to open about 50 more stores in the next three years in the U.S. and the UK.

Away Travel Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer Jen Rubio Is Speaking at Skift Global Forum in New York. Get Tickets Now

When Away debuted in 2016, it touted suitcases that included a battery pack for charging on the fly. However, in January 2018, Away and rival luggage makers stumbled when several U.S. airlines banned luggage with batteries that can’t be removed. Promising smart luggage makers like Bluesmart crashed . Away escaped the problem by making sure its battery was easily removable and below power limits set by the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration.

Not everyone liked Away’s early suitcases. The review site Maphappy posted a mixed review, faulting the bag for durability after extensive testing. But later products like a soft weekender bag earned positive reviews .

As a mostly direct-to-consumer brand, Away sought unconventional, cost-effective ways to reach potential customers. Relying heavily on content marketing , it created a blog, a magazine, and a podcast, while also investing heavily in Instagram-friendly content.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: away , funding , luggage

Photo credit: Launched in 2016 by CEO Steph Korey (right) and chief brand officer Jen Rubio, Away has gone on to raise multiple rounds of funding for its direct-to-consumer sales of luggage and other travel accessories. Masha Maltsava / Away

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A brief history of Away: From suitcases to scandals

Can Away bounce back from COVID shutdowns and the company's co-founder drama?

Surely you’ve seen the ads. Just open Instagram or Facebook and you’ll scroll past the luggage that’s taking the world, particularly millennial travelers, by storm. Away debuted as a female-founded, highly funded, direct-to-consumer luggage retailer in 2015. The launch of their signature product, the Carry-On, was enormously successful. Vogue called it “The Perfect Carry-On.” People dubbed it “the little black dress of luggage.” By the conclusion of its first year in business, Away had launched three more suitcases: The Bigger Carry-On, The Medium, and The Large. This is a brief history of the company’s founding, growth, success, and some recent turmoil. 

The broken suitcase that started it all

Away launched in 2015 after founder Jen Rubio’s luggage broke in an airport in Switzerland. Her clothes and toiletries poured out of her suitcase and onto the airport floor. She ended up finding some straps and tape to get the suitcase functional enough to get to her next destination. After that, Rubio was on the hunt for a better suitcase. She reached out to her former colleague at Warby Parker, Stephanie Korey and the two came up with the idea for a durable hard-shell suitcase with wheels and a built-in battery pack capable of charging phones and tablets. Rubio and Korey met in 2011, while they were working at Warby Parker as social media manager and head of supply chain, respectively. With Away, the women knew their market and their strategy: relentless online marketing. 

Rubio and Korey netted $150,000 via family and friends to start the company. That was enough to hire an industrial designer and take a blueprint of their luggage to a factory in southeastern China, willing to take a chance on two young women with big dreams but not a lot of experience (see also: Sara Blakely and SPANX). The two founders visited that factory eight times in 2015.

The carry-on that took over Instagram

Despite their close watch on the production of their signature Carry-On, Christmas 2015 was fast approaching and their luggage wasn’t going to be ready in time. So they relied on the tried and true marketing tactic: the pre-order. Then they blanketed social media with their ads, and it worked. The first Carry-Ons were delivered to customers in early 2016. Away’s luggage is hard sided polycarbonate with for 360-degree spinner wheels and strong YKK zippers that can take the abuse that luggage typically takes. The luggage also has a removable 10,000-milliamp-hour lithium ion battery for charging personal devices.  The Away Carry-On will run you $225 including shipping in the US. A similar bag from Tumi sells for $525. 

Within months, Rubio and Korey had filed more than a dozen patent applications worldwide. The company made $12 million its first year. Away was profitable by the end of 2017. By late 2019, the company was on track to do $150 million in revenue. Away sells the vast majority of its suitcases online. It also has a handful of stores in high-traffic cities like New York, London, and Los Angeles. Today, Rubio and Korey have sold more than 100,000 suitcases. 

The scandal that made headlines

In late 2019, trouble within Away’s company culture and reports of a toxic workplace surfaced. According to the Verge , executives mocked employees on a private Slack channel. Korey was accused of making staff members cry. Employees were asked to work long hours and limit their paid time off. They were reprimanded for not responding to messages immediately, even late at night and on weekends. While Away has a cult following among celebrities, influences, and millennials, former employees are quick to point out its image is at direct odds with its company culture. 

People are still following Away's Facebook page, but year-over-year  growth rate for likes has significantly dropped.

As a result of these and many other stories, Away announced in early December 2019 that Korey would be replaced as CEO by former Lululemon executive Stuart Haselden. About a month later, Korey rescinded her resignation and planned to be co-CEO with Haselden.  In late June 2020, Korey took to Instagram to attack digital media companies and journalists in the heat of the Black Lives Matter protests.  By July, Rubio had announced that Korey would be leaving Away by the end of the year and Haselden would take over as sole CEO. 

Job listings are down 72.7% year-to-date.

Now, nearly six months into the global pandemic with most travel halted, how will the company bounce back from both the shutdowns and the company's co-founder drama?

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Amplify travel tech etf (away).

• Previous Close 20.37
• Bid 18.80 x 1300
• Ask 21.00 x 1000
• Day's Range 20.46 - 20.71
• 52 Week Range 14.95 - 20.71
• Volume 13,089
• Avg. Volume 17,700
• Net Assets 85.95M
• PE Ratio (TTM) 55.76
• Yield 0.13%
• YTD Daily Total Return 6.02%
• Beta (5Y Monthly) 1.10
• Expense Ratio (net) 0.75%

Amplify Travel Tech ETF Overview Amplify ETFs / Consumer Cyclical

The index tracks the performance of globally exchange-listed equity securities (or corresponding American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) or Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”)) of companies across the globe that are engaged in “Travel Technology Business”. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in the component securities of the index and in ADRs or GDRs based on the component securities in the index. The fund is non-diversified.

Amplify ETFs

Fund Family

Fund category, inception date, performance overview: away.

Trailing returns as of 5/17/2024. Category is Consumer Cyclical.

1-Year Return

3-year return, people also watch, holdings: away, top 10 holdings (44.67% of total assets), sector weightings, recent news: away.

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