Friday 19 December 2014

DFNI Products Awards 2014

Essential Communications is delighted to congratulate clients on doing so well in this year's DFNI Product Awards, including:

Furla - highly commended for its SS15 Flower Capsule and Cruise Collection

Tyko Travel Retail - winner of best new product for Punk Luxe

Godiva Chocolatier - winner of best new store for Hamad International airport, Doha

Mars International Travel Retail - highly commended for its M&M's store in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and for its global programme

Nestlé International Travel Retail - highly commended for its Nescafé sharing bags

Perfetti Van Melle - winner of best marketing campaign for its Animal Planet charity campaign

Imperial Tobacco - highly commended for its new Davidoff Superslims

Thursday 18 December 2014

Hawaiian Host announces new exclusive CNY Tin

Hawaiian Host has launched a new limited edition Chinese New Year Tin to capitalize on this important gift-giving time of year.




The new tin features two 6oz MacNut Crunch®  boxes in a festive red and gold color, incorporating the animals from the Chinese Zodiac. It is currently being sold exclusively in 4 outlets in 4 High Speed Railway Stations and 48 outlets in 19 Chinese airports including Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, Beijing Capital, Qingdao, and Shenzhen; from now up until the end of Chinese New Year in February.

“We are excited to be celebrating the Year of the Sheep with this unique gifting opportunity,” says Earl Kurisu, Hawaiian Host Director of Sales Asia Pacific . “Gifting is a very important part of the CNY traditions, and we anticipate that this gift tin will make an excellent commemoration of CNY 2015.”

About Hawaiian Host
Hawaiian Host®, Inc. is the manufacturer of Hawaii’s original chocolate covered macadamias. Mamoru Takitani purchased Ellen Dye Candies, a local confectioner since 1927, and renamed the company Hawaiian Host®. Its corporate headquarters is located at 500 Alakawa Street in Honolulu. For more information, please visit the website at www.hawaiianhost.com, like the page on Facebook at  www.facebook.com/HawaiianHostInc or follow them on Twitter @HawaiianHostInc. Genuine. Classic. Original.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

JUUL-MORTENSEN RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT TFWA

As the 30th successful year of TFWA activities draws to a close, the association is delighted to announce that Erik Juul-Mortensen has been re-elected unanimously to the presidency for a 16th  term.

The election took place at a meeting of the Management Committee on 12th December in Barcelona at which the executive team presented a review of the year.

Juul-Mortensen has been a member of the TFWA Management Committee since the Association was founded in 1984. He was elected to the Board in 1986, serving as Vice President Marketing & Communication for ten years with a further year as VP Special Projects. He was elected President in September 1999.

2014 has been another very successful year for the trade association which provides exhibitions, conferences, research and support to the global duty free and travel retail industry.

Forthcoming events:

TFWA China’s Century Conference – Shanghai, 10-12 March 2015

TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference – Singapore, 10-14 May 2015

TFWA World Exhibition & Conference – Cannes, 18-23 October 2015

MEADFA Conference – Jordan, November 2015

Further details of TFWA events can be found at www.tfwa.com.

Thursday 11 December 2014

Paul & Shark develops cruise-ship business and celebrates successful week in Cannes

Luxury Italian sportswear brand Paul & Shark has announced two key cruise-ship listings with Tallink  and Starboard Cruise Services. The company has installed corners on Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony and will be joining Crystal Cruises and Silversea cruises through Starboard from November.

‘This is an excellent development for us and we’re really excited about it. Both Starboard Cruise and Tallink offer premium retail experiences which perfectly suits the DNA of the Paul & Shark brand,’ says Worldwide Travel Retail Director Catherine Bonelli. “The association with luxury sportswear and particularly sailing makes the link even more appropriate,’ she says.

Catherine Bonelli


This new business is announced after an incredibly successful week for Paul & Shark at TFWA World Conference & Exhibition. ‘We had a fabulous exhibition this year,’ continues Bonelli, ‘we had more than 65 serious business meetings during the week and were thrilled at the positive response to the brand. Visitors really appreciate the quality of Paul & Shark, its unique approach and flexibility to meet the individual requirements of retailers.’

During the week, Paul & Shark offered visitors to the stand personalized embroidered Polo shirts for men and pouches containing silk scarves for women. Using an intricate tooling machine, which takes up little space, Paul & Shark showed customers at first hand how the brand can create a point of difference for travel retail. ‘It was a very successful initiative and really helped us to get our quality message across. Over the week we embroidered more than 250 Polos and 100 pouches. We were very pleased with the results,’ says Bonelli.

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Davidoff lounge ‘a great success’

Imperial Tobacco is delighted with the success of its Davidoff lounge at this year’s MEADFA conference - which attracted 600 delegates from over 32 countries.



The conference, held at the Jumeirah Creekside hotel in Dubai, provided insightful and detailed information on travel retail in the Middle East and Africa regions as well as networking and social interactions for all participants.

The lounge itself was highly frequented by the delegates, who sampled the selection of Davidoff Cigarettes and in many cases chose to use the lounge as a place for business meetings or to discuss the conference programme, e.g. the Imperial Tobacco presentation on the Chinese Traveller.

Says Julia Neumaier, Trade Marketing Operations Manager Imperial Tobacco: “The Davidoff lounge was a great success. We received nothing but positive feedback and we attribute this to the informative, friendly hostesses and of course, our quality products.”

The lounge was also the perfect stage for Imperial Tobacco to handover a cheque  for €6000   to TFWA president Erik Juul-Mortensen for TFWA Care, which supports various charity projects. The money was raised at TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in October through a game on the Imperial Tobacco stand. “We are thrilled to have supported the charity,” says Andreas Lemke, Imperial Tobacco’s GTR General Manager. “It was a great way to celebrate TFWA’s 30th anniversary and also support a deserving cause.”

Champagne Lanson launches ‘new exceptional gift sets’ for Extra Age cuvee

Champagne Lanson is offering consumers travelling through Zurich Airport the opportunity to purchase one or two exceptional gift sets, exclusively offered as part of a High Profile Promotion from the 2nd-29th December 2014.









The first offer is ‘The Traveler Showcase’ a Lanson branded Samsonite Cube Lite suitcase containing a bottle of Extra Age cuvee and two Champagne glasses. A light, robust and timeless fashion piece that will protect one’s Extra Age cuvee at any time, the case is perfect for travelling and reusable after removing the protective cover designed for the bottle.

The second offer is the ‘Timeless Gift Box’, a beautiful case holding three bottles of Extra Age cuvee. With blends that focus on the importance of time, it is only natural that the Lanson House would be inspired by the world of watches for this gift set, with its ‘wheels of time’ theme.

Once the bottles have been removed, this exceptional gift set with its very elegant carbon design can be used to hold six timepieces.

To quote Olivier de la Giraudière, Export Director Champagne Lanson: “This is an extraordinary promotion we are running and we expect a high visibility of these top premium gifts throughout the this high promotion period. This is a unique gifting opportunity for the Christmas and New Year festivities.”

Thursday 4 December 2014

Furla ‘pops up’ in Harrods

Furla takes delight in announcing the opening of a new 50m2 pop up store in Harrods, London Heathrow Terminal 5.




The store officially opened on the 28th November 2014 with Furla’s AW14 collection.

“We are seeing exceptional sales so far,” says Furla’s Global Travel Retail Director, Gerry Munday. “This is the first pop up store for Furla in travel retail, and I’d like to say a big thank you to Harrods for their help with this opening, it has been a delight to work with them again and we hope to do so again in the near future.”

Furla opens new personalised corner in Japan

Furla, the leading brand in premium leathergoods, is expanding its presence in Japan with a new personalised corner in Haneda International Airport, with JAL-DFS.



The store opened recently with Furla’s AW14 collection.

“We have had a very busy couple of months with openings all over Asia,” says Gerry Munday, Global Travel Retail Director. “I would like to thank JAL-DFS for their hard work during this opening and for their continued support to Furla.”

Wednesday 3 December 2014

FURLA TAPS WORLD-CLASS TALENT MARIO TESTINO AS CREATIVE PARTNER

Further sealing its evolution as leading international premium accessories lifestyle brand, Furla has teamed up with world-class photographer Mario Testino and his creative agency, to shape the brand's artistic image across the board.
Mario Testino



Starting with the Spring Summer 2015 Collection, the brand will develop a 360-degree project that will set the tone of voice and the communication codes of the brand, developing a media-neutral creativity, which will roll out to all platforms: point of sales, media and web.

Only in the early stages of a long-lasting collaboration, the creative partnership between Testino and Furla will transmit the brand's colourful, joyful and contagious Italian lifestyle mood that celebrates both its iconic and novelty products with a strong mix of quality and innovation.

The lively and dynamic images will be reflected in the ad campaign for media and outdoor, in window display, in store and web catalogs as well as in videos for the website, social media platforms and PR purposes.

This new challenge is the first initiative of a strong and focused marketing strategy, aimed at bringing Furla into the next level of its international growth.

“This is a very exciting and positive time for the brand. We are proud to begin this partnership with such a great artist like Mario Testino. His creativity will project Furla to the next level of its global evolution”, declares Eraldo Poletto, Chief Executive Officer of Furla.

“Furla is about energy, life and colours. When I look at the product, I imagine whoever is wearing it is having a great time. It's a great journey we are beginning together”, said Mario Testino about the brand.

Furla opens new store in Haikou Airport

Furla takes delight in announcing that it has opened a new 48sqm boutique in Haikou Airport, Hainan, with DFS Group.



The store opened on the 1st of October with Furla’s AW14 collection.

“Yet another successful opening in Asia,” says Gerry Munday, Global Travel Retail Director. “This has been an extremely busy couple of months with openings in Shenzhen International Airport, Chengdu Airport and Haneda International Airport preceding this one. I would like to thank DFS-Group for their hard work and co-operation with this new store opening.”