Wednesday 28 June 2017

‘Tis the season for plush!

Aurora World, the plush specialist, announces the arrival of its new winter range of endearing cuddly toys, which will be in travel retail stores from November to February. The new winter additions appeal to all ages and feature cold weather creatures as well as mythical characters.

New models join Aurora’s flock of PomPom Penguins, making up 18 characters available to purchase. The new 15cm characters come in Aqua, Pink, or Purple furry jackets and matching ear muffs and retail for €7.95. Also available are cute 10cm penguin backpack clips in pink, blue, and grey variations, also at €7.95. Larger 29cm penguins retail at $19.95.



Brand new to Aurora’s portfolio is the Sparkle Tales collection, including cuddly white unicorns available with gold or silver horns and hooves. Available in 2 different sizes; 18cm and 30.5cm, Sparkle Tales retail from €12.95 for the small size, to €19.95 for the larger.







The family of mermaids in the Sea Sparkles range grows larger still, with two new finned friends added to the range. The new characters feature seasonal gold and silver outfits and tails, and retail at €21.95.




New additions to the Fancy Pals collection for winter-season sales are Peek-a-Boo Princess Puppy, a pampered pooch who wears a silver crown and can be carried around in her matching handbag, and Peek-a-Boo Husky. Fancy Pals are an ideal candidate for travel retail stores, as not only can the toy be carried in the travel bag, but there’s room for other bits and pieces too!




Says Garry Stoner, Aurora Travel Retail Sales Manager: “We are absolutely delighted with the Winter range, which will be displayed in airports using our unique travel retail display, enabling maximum display ability on a minimum floor space. Combine this with strategic placement in a high footfall area and we are guaranteed a successful holiday season and lot’s of happy customers!”


Friday 16 June 2017

Marie Brizard brings ‘exceptionally rare liqueur’ to Vinexpo

Visitors to Vinexpo will have the privilege of seeing an extremely rare bottle of an exceptional liqueur that bears witness to the rich history of Marie Brizard.


This extraordinary piece comes from the cellar of one of the most important private collectors in the world, Michel-Jack Chasseuil.
Among his 40,000 bottles, Chasseuil identified the 100 rarest specimens, and grouped them together in a book (100 Extraordinary Bottles: From the Most Beautiful Wine Cellar in the World - Cellar, published by Firefly Books). In this selection, he chose to present a liqueur of Marie Brizard Danzig*, dating from 1912, linked to the fate of the famous Titanic.
He bought this treasure in 1988, at an auction in Versailles, and explains that on the day of the sale, fortunately, snow was falling heavily, and discouraged most of the potential buyers.
The fact that this was 9 years before the release of James Cameron’s film, Titanic, also explains the lack of interest from other bidders. The auctioneer however explained the extraordinary history of these two bottles.
Indeed, the descendants of Louis Renault, the founder of the Renault cars, had put them on sale. According to him, his ancestor wanted to cross the Atlantic in April 1912 aboard the notorious steamer but for unknown reasons, had not been able to realise his dream.
On the other hand, he had learned that Marie Brizard liqueur “with golden glitter” was to be served on board during the voyage. At that time, this kind of alcohol, enhanced with gold leaf, had the reputation of purifying one’s blood. Louis Renault thus hastened to search and appropriate a few bottles of this precious liquid and, as they say, the rest is history!
Hall 1, Stand BD287

* The liqueur of Danzig or Danzig, German and historic name of Gdańsk, created by a Dutchman in the 16th century, based on roots and herbs, with the peculiarity of including 22-23 carat gold shards

Wednesday 14 June 2017

WORLD CUCUMBER DAY ARRIVES

Cucumbers harvested to garnish Hendrick’s gin and tonic around the globe

 JUNE 14, 2017: Today is the most MARVELOUS day for budding botanists the world over, for today is World Cucumber Day, when these lovingly cultivated curious green fruits can be harvested to meet their true purpose in life: to garnish a Hendrick’s Gin & Tonic.



Hendrick’s brand-owner, William Grant & Sons, has once again shown its commitment to the ‘unusual’ in building global attention for the best-selling super-premium gin, which is oddly infused with cucumber and rose, playing perfectly to its eccentric and distinctive marketing approach.  The global campaign, themed ‘Cultivate the Unusual’, invited consumers to take part in a World Cucumber Day experiment, based on scientific evidence that shows cucumbers respond best to outside stimuli including music, perfumes and being protected by mini ‘sleeping bags’, producing larger, juicer and tastier fruits.

It’s believed that thousands of green-fingered enthusiasts worldwide have taken part in the experiment, either growing their own cucumber or adopting a cucumber virtually through Facebook (http://m.me/CucumberAdoptionService).

The campaign – promoted via Hendrick’s own digital channels, YouTube (https://youtu.be/aJBcvo408nI), Facebook and Instagram has also relied extensively on activations through Global Travel Retail, running in key locations both in the build up to World Cucumber Day and post today’s celebrations.


WGS has worked particularly closely with retailers including Aer Rianta International, DFS, Heinemann, King Power and Lagardère Travel Retail to bring the campaign to life in key airports using a combination of tasting bars, glorification hot houses, iconic branding, promoters, gifts, botanic seed trays, and striking theatre pieces including the Hendrick’s Cucumber Crank, the very peculiar machine designed with styling cues from agricultural devices. When the wheel is turned, the cucumber advances through a series of knives inside which it is sliced perfectly - to be then enjoyed in a refreshing Hendrick’s & Tonic.

Additionally, smaller scale activations have taken place at industry and internal events, while WGS has partnered with Harding Retail to hold an ‘international gin day’ on its cruise ships.

Activations kicked off in May at various locations including Changi T1, Singapore, with DFS, Kingpower at Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok, with Lagardère Travel Retail in Luton and ARI in Dublin T2, continuing to run throughout June.

As well as tempting passengers with delicious signature cocktails, free gifts on offer include a 5cl bottle with every bottle purchased, a cucumber scented candle with every two bottles purchased (Changi) and a beautifully styled fan (Dublin, Luton).

Retailers have supported World Cucumber Day with great enthusiasm. Of the promotion at Dublin airport, Paul Hunnisett, ARI Global Head of Liquor, Tobacco, Confectionery and Fine Foods said, “Gin has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity in The Loop, Dublin Airport in recent years, driven in no small part by Hendrick’s unusual and wondrous activations that our customers love. It’s what makes this gin such an iconic brand. World Cucumber Day is yet another really ‘cool’ idea that has been very well received in our Dublin stores.”

This month (June) sees the World Cucumber Day frivolity extend to Heinemann airports in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Sydney and will move to Johannesburg and Munich in August and September. Apart from inviting consumers to Celebrate with a Slice of the Unusual, all are encouraged to go online and adopt a cucumber.

“We’ve been delighted to partner with William Grant & Sons for World Cucumber Day; the travel retail team can always be relied upon to come up with truly stand out activations – quirky, unusual, fun and totally mad and eccentric,” says Ann-Kathrin Fürer (Head of Activity Management at Gebr. Heinemann). “We’ve supported the campaign whole-heartedly, including featuring the June Frankfurt event on our own social media platforms, inviting travellers to take part in our Hendrick’s World Cucumber Experiment at the A+A-Main Schengen Tasting Bar.“ 

But it’s not just travellers who’ve had the chance to engage with World Cucumber Day. Giftboxes of seeds and instruction leaflets supplied by William Grant & Sons have enabled retail staff to cultivate and bond with their own cucumbers from East to West.

As these are current promotions, it is still early days for sales data. However, says William Grant & Sons Head of Marketing, GTR, Ifan Jenkins “We know that in Luton sales were up by 35% at the end of May and in Dublin sales of Hendrick’s doubled in the first two weeks.”

Reaction from passengers to World Cucumber Day activations have been incredibly encouraging with many being introduced to the world of Hendrick’s for the first time. “Fresh, and also smooth. Not as flowery as other gins, the flavours are more subtle. The cucumber makes it more refreshing,” commented one passenger.

“Hendrick’s is oddly infused with rose and cucumber, so World Cucumber Day has provided us with the perfect opportunity to reaffirm the brand’s ownership of the signature cucumber serve and make it globally famous,” says Ifan Jenkins.  

“The support we’ve received from our retail partners has been absolutely fantastic; they’ve all really bought into the campaign – in many cases growing their own cucumbers as well - and have worked extraordinarily hard to maximize the visibility for passengers.

“For William Grant & Sons, World Cucumber Day has enabled us to appeal not only to existing fans – giving them a unique and fun way to interact with Hendrick’s, but also to invite new audiences into our peculiarly unusual brand world.

“World Cucumber Day has been a global campaign for Hendrick’s but Global Travel Retail has undoubtedly played a key and vital role in spreading the word to consumers, yet again proving the value and importance of this distribution channel.”

During the campaign, consumers have been encouraged to sing to their fruits or read classical literature to young seedlings and night, with added cultivation tips. Indeed, continues Jenkins, “We appreciate that the extraordinary bonds gardeners will have formed with their cucumber may make harvesting today a somewhat emotional experience. Nevertheless, we are sure the pure joy of enjoying said cucumber in its rightful place – as a garnish in a Hendrick’s gin and tonic – will more than compensate for any sense of loss!”

And so, for those of you reading this who are preparing to harvest your own cucumbers today, here are the key elements to consider before you brandish your knife!

Harvest and garnish (fully-grown cucumber)
  1. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The earlier the cucumbers are harvested, the smaller and more tender the seeds. They will also taste sweeter and juicier. Oh, and there’s no bad news. 
  2. The cool calm of the early morning or evening is perfect for cucumber harvesting. The fruits can be kept fresh overnight by standing them stalk end down in a jug with a little water in it. You can keep yourself fresh overnight by reading poetry before bedtime and wearing silk pyjamas. 
  3. Please do not yank your cucumbers when you harvest them from the plant. Instead snip them off with a pair of secateurs or a sharp knife. Do not use a cutlass. 
  4. Once you have tasted your cucumber, cut 0.3-cm slices and then submerge them in your Hendrick’s & Tonic. If you wish to, you may then contemplate all that is marvellous in the universe. 
5.    The Mesmadunion method of cucumber harvest & garnishment requires the following: 
1.    The harvester must wear a cloak, 3-foot winklepickers and a beak.
2.    The cucumbers must be culled at dawn within a mile of a viaduct.
3.    The cucumbers must be sliced with affection.
4.    The slices must be dropped into the Hendrick's & Tonic from an altitude of three miles.
NOTES TO EDITORS
THE SCIENCE BEHIND WORLD CUCUMBER DAY. The World Cucumber Day challenge is based on a genuine scientific experiment by cucumber scientist Graham Brown of the University of Sydney who found that cucumbers:
·      appreciate music with the cucumbers that listened to rock producing measurably larger, better-tasting fruits, cylindrical in shape, with no curving and smooth dark green skin. In stark contrast the jazz plants showed disdain for their music by producing malformed fruits with curved and pointed edges. The plants exposed to classical melodies displayed a tangible fondness for it, growing healthy and shiny skinned after listening to Beethoven and Bach.
·      Prefer certain scents – particularly dill, but not sage
·      Enjoy being protected in mini sleeping bags, resulting in softer and lighter skin and sweeter flesh.
·      Develop a sense of touch to help them grow, using tendrils to feel and reach for surfaces to hold onto for support, particularly at night..


ABOUT GRAHAM BROWN
Graham Brown is a research associate at the University of Sydney, where he has been an integral research scientist in the Plant Breeding Institute since 1973, growing stronger species by discovering and breeding desirable traits into native plants.

Around ten years ago Graham began breeding cucumbers and has been testing their responses to outside stresses to discover how they can continue to thrive in the harsh Australian climate. His research laboratory is packed with every scientific contraption available to measure cucumbers’ reactions to the outside world, and his greenhouse contains an abundance of beautiful, high-reaching cucumber plants.

During his decade working with cucumbers, Graham has helped develop several specialist fruit varieties, including a four-inch cucumber, affectionately termed the ‘cutecumber’ as well as the most Australian Cucumber, nurtured on emu dung, Simpson desert soil, and the calcium of yabby shells.

When not in his laboratory, Graham has a taste for hunting the weirdest and most wonderful plants in the world. He has travelled to far-reaching corners to find the strangest flowers and vegetables he can use in his breeding research. Of late Graham has travelled to Pakistan, the geographical origin of the cucumber, to discover the wildest species; to Puglia where he collected the heirloom cucumber seeds to bring back to Australia; he’s gone foraging in the Australian outback to collect native celery and rummaged for the Wild Campanula flower – also known as the ‘Creeping Campanula’ - near Portofino in Italy.

ABOUT HENDRICK’S GIN
Hendrick’s Gin is a deliciously super premium gin, made with a number of unusual twists to deliver a most curious arrangement. Unlike ordinary gins, Hendrick’s Gin is distilled in Scotland, in miniscule batches of only 500 litres at a time. Only Hendrick’s Gin is made with infusions of cucumber and rose petals, alongside a blend of 11 botanicals, producing a wonderfully refreshing gin with a delightfully floral aroma. Hendrick’s Gin is made in a combination of a Carter-Head and copper pot still, creating a divinely smooth gin with both character and balance of subtle flavours. 

ABOUT WILLIAM GRANT & SONS
William Grant & Sons Holdings Ltd is an independent family-owned distiller headquartered in the United Kingdom and founded by William Grant in 1887. Today, the global premium spirits company is owned by the fifth generation of his family and distils some of the world’s leading brands of Scotch whisky, including the world’s most awarded single malt Glenfiddich®, The Balvenie® range of handcrafted single malts and the world’s third largest blended Scotch, Grant’s®, as well as other iconic spirits brands such as Hendrick’s® Gin, Sailor Jerry®, Tullamore D.E.W.® Irish Whiskey, Monkey Shoulder® and Drambuie®

ABOUT GEBR. HEINEMANN SE & Co. KG
Gebr. Heinemann is one of the top players on the international travel retail market and the leader on the European market. It is the only family-run business among the global players of the travel retail industry. As a distributor, Gebr. Heinemann supplies more than 1,000 customers in over 100 countries. In the retail sector, the company operates more than 320 Heinemann Duty Free & Travel Value shops, fashion label boutiques under license and concept shops at 77 airports in 28 countries, along with shops at border crossings and aboard cruise liners. The company has been designing its Duty Free & Travel Value Shops since 2008 in accordance with an exceptional brand concept. Today, the Heinemann Duty Free brand is present at numerous airports worldwide including Sydney. In total, the retail operation now serves more than 40 million customers across 120,000 square metres of retail space every year. Gebr. Heinemann has 6,000 employees around the world.





-ENDS-

For further information go to www.WorldCucumberDayExperiment.com