Experiential marketing is increasingly being used to great effect in the travel retail environment. As perhaps the most effective shop window for brands, the channel’s leading operators are embracing a sense of retail theatre and “contentainment” to entice discerning travelling consumers.
The “Style Goes Live” campaign took place across seven airports last September – London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Manchester, Glasgow, Palma and Madrid-Barajas. Among the promotional events was a true experiential partnership with premium brand Dior, which saw performances by musician Ben Montague on “the first global airport live tour,” explains Sue Gosling, Division Marketing Head, UK, Northern, Central, Eastern & Europe, Dufry. “With a direct link to a new fragrance launch the shows in-store brought this to life in an exciting way igniting all senses from live music, visual flashmobs, visual advertising, and merchandising.”
Other brands featured in the “Style Goes Live” campaign included Paco Rabanne, Belvedere, Burberry and Clarins.
Sales were measured on the specific event days by terminal, with impressive results reported overall in terms of increased sales for the brands involved, and in the number of transactions, particularly during the hours of Ben Montague’s performances.
“Experiential marketing allows us to work with our brand partners to tap into the excitement of travel,” Gosling comments. “Through our market leading ‘Contentainment’ concept we are able to provide passengers with memorable experiences in-store that increase penetration, conversion and, most importantly, sales.”
Building on the success of “Style Goes Live”, there are plans to follow-up with bigger and better elevated experiential campaigns globally in 2016, incorporating new technologies such as face recognition and true retail partnerships with brands.
Dufry to present retail-tainment campaign at ACI EUROPE Airport Commercial & Retail Conference
Learn more about retail-tainment initiatives at the 25th ACI EUROPE Airport Commercial & Retail Conference & Exhibition, 11-13 April 2016, hosted by Helsinki Airport. The Second Working Session is entitled “Retail-tainment, consumer participation, and retail theatre: Can there be a true sense of adventure and expectation in the airport commercial space and does this really deliver the desired goal of greater spend?” The defining presentation will be delivered by Sue Gosling, Division Marketing Head, UK, Northern, Central, Eastern & Europe, Dufry, with additional panellists from Lagardère Travel Retail, Rituals, Daktronics and Moment Factory.
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