Imperial Tobacco emphasises consumer focus in Cannes

This year sees a distinct change to the Imperial Tobacco stand at TFWA World Exhibition (Gold Village GO 6). The general theme ’The Art of Tobacco’ remains, but has evolved this year to reflect the tobacco company’s increasing focus on traveller and regional specifics, behaviour and preferences as they differ significantly by region. One size fits all is not good enough.

Andreas Lemke, Global Duty Free General Manager, Imperial Tobacco

'Tobacco is, of course, our DNA and, with our uniquely broad portfolio of brands and products within the category Imperial Tobacco is a true one-stop shop for retailers within travel retail,’ says Andreas Lemke, Global Duty Free General Manager. ’Equally important, however, is an understanding of travellers and their different needs and preferences - a subject that seems obvious but is too often neglected, particularly within the tobacco sector. At TFWA World Exhibition this year we want to emphasise how well Imperial Tobacco understands these needs; knows how different nationalities shop and what their preferences are within different product groups.’

The result is a stand that will be segmented not by brand, as in the past, but by regions, with each meeting room highlighting the brands that are specific and relevant to travellers from those areas. ‘For example, within the Asia meeting room we will highlight Davidoff Magnum 1926 Elite, while in the Europe room the emphasis would be more on Gauloises, Lambert & Butler and gv Smooth,’ says Andreas Lemke. ’We believe this is a much better approach for retailers than buying by brand; our stand really becomes a global map of travelling consumer preferences.’

In conjunction with the stand focus, Imperial Tobacco will be also presenting its Category Management approach to retailers throughout the week. This approach is based on intense research and in depth understanding of the different needs of travellers in the category and generates a profound base to create an optimal portfolio based on individual outlets and how to best merchandise the category – both in straightforward and ‘challenging’ environments.

TFWA World Exhibition will also see a number of new pack designs and line extensions for brands including Davidoff, Gauloises and popular French cigarette brand News. Watch this space for more details!