Away CMO Carla Dunham on utilizing marketing channels and connecting with Gen Z

Away’s arrival to the DTC luggage game was, well, a game changer as the brand famously shook up the once dormant category.

But over the past few years, as the retailer struggled with post-pandemic troubles, a number of competitors that mimic its aesthetic—most notably Monos—have come up, creating an undeniable need for Away to stand out.

Since then, the brand has worked on turning itself around both by hiring a new CMO, Carla Dunham last November, and launching a re-imagined version of its Classic suitcase collection. (PS: If you want to know more about that and the brand’s influencer collaborations, don’t forget to read our previous story.)

But Dunham’s arrival has also been instrumental in shifting the retailer’s public image and connecting with new customers. In an exclusive chat, she tells us how exactly she does it all.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

On effectively utilizing its communication channels

Increasingly, we really think about it less in terms of one specific channel and much more specifically in terms of funnel. The reason I say that is we’re really mindful of customers who have different degrees of familiarity with ourselves with our product, so when we think about someone coming through our funnel, we’re really mindful of what it is we want them to learn about us and how we want them to learn it. How do we want to move that awareness into engagement and then, ultimately, conversion?

Upper funnel is super compelling for us, we love the ability to unpack brand storytelling, whether it’s on social or streaming or linear. We know we have a lot of customers who are aware of us. But with our product expansion having increased so much in recent years, we know that there are many more who have an opportunity to learn about us.

Then as we move you through the funnel, it’s really making sure that we’re serving up the right information at the right time.

On the best sellers

We’re definitely known for our carry-on that launched the brand, and it continues to be a customer favorite. When we think about net new businesses, we tend to think about their performance, where we have opportunities in backpacks and bags that accompany your carry-on luggage. And we’ve seen those bags can be everywhere.

The bag has become a really strong performer for us, as well as the recent 25-liter F.A.R. backpack that was just introduced this summer. We recognize that both of those bags give our customers additional options on how they travel. And the fact that they pair so well and so seamlessly with our luggage is just an added selling point.

On connecting with the Gen Z

We find the way that we communicate our core tenants as a brand really has to shift and adjust and of course, adopt the vocabulary and fluency of those channels. So whether it’s working with an influencer, who’s got great traction on those profiles and collaborating with them on content, whether it’s leaning in on sounds or particular ways of describing a product that’s trending, we adjust our content in a way that feels much more native to the platforms that we’re spending time on.

But we find that Gen Z has the same expectations around performance and quality; they shop differently, but they shop with higher expectations. And I think what we find really encouraging is that they are really conscious about the purchases that they make and as such, our brand with this emphasis on performance is particularly compelling.