Nestlé engages Nicola Wells in key role to drive its category ambition

In a move to reinforce its commitment to build food into the #1 most purchased category in global travel retail, Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) has engaged experienced industry executive and business consultant Nicola Wells as Head of Category Development. The role is effective from the start of April.

Wells, who brings a wealth of strategic marketing and commercial expertise combined with senior level experience within travel retail, will support Nestlé’s sales team in engaging with key customers as well as the marketing team with their brand & category development planning. In this role she will report directly to Stewart Dryburgh, the General Manager of Nestlé’s dedicated travel retail unit.

Wells has already been working with Nestlé on a consultancy basis for the past 12 months, helping shape the development of the company’s category strategy. “I’ve really enjoyed working with the Nestlé team over the past year and this new role enables me to extend this further into the implementation of the ‘food #1’ category strategy,” she says.

Adds Stewart Dryburgh: “Nicola has played a key role in helping me and my team shape our strategy to make food the #1 most purchased category in our industry. The key now is to turn our strategy into execution through constructive dialogue and active partnerships with our key customers. Nicola’s industry experience means she is the ideal person to add value to our customers and support our sales & marketing team on this exciting journey.” 

Wells established her own business U.S.P (Unlocking Strategic Potential) Consulting in 2019 and has most recently worked with the Duty Free World Council (DFWC) on the content for the soon to be launched Certificate in Duty Free and Travel Retail. Before this Wells worked for 8 years with Aer Rianta International (ARI), the last 6 years as Director of Global Strategy & Marketing on the Executive team.  Prior to her time in ARI Wells held a range of increasingly senior commercial roles in Mars, Britvic and Pepsico.

Nestlé’s Digitally Connected Shopper campaign for KitKat delivers 22 million impressions

Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) has run an exciting KitKat branding initiave to engage with consumers before entering the store.  

Based on M1nd-set research, which highlights that 55% of decisions to purchase a category are made before travellers enter the store, Nestlé’s ‘Digitally Connected Shopper’campaign series focused on extending the shopper journey, creating greater brand awareness, and deepening engagement with travellers as they pass through the airport. 

For its launch at key global airport destinations Dubai, Madrid and Hainan, run across December 2021 and January 2022, the KitKat campaign was featured across giant digital advertising hoardings with the aim to increase communications with target travellers. Slogans such as ‘Cele’break New Year – Discover KitKat at Dubai Airport’ and ‘Boarding – your ticket to an exclusive KitKat experience’ were designed to target travellers at a specific destination in their travel journey, pre-trip, in-trip and during travel. 

The Dubai campaign was a four-way partnership between Dubai Airports, Dubai Duty Free, JCDecaux and Nestlé, that helped to maximise the campaign’s impact to travellers, leveraging KitKat brand awareness throughout the passenger shopping journey at the airport. The communication programme embraced 177 digital screens strategically located before departures and at points of sale, to influence passengers and trigger purchases in Concourse A (Terminal 3) and Concourse D (Terminal 1).

As Dubai Airport was opened at 100% of its capacity (in December), Nestlé wanted to leverage the increased PAX at this location, by having a 360 communication; including digital and in-store/in airport communication to deliver a maximum impact in driving sales and brand awareness during the day of the trip.

The ‘Cele’break New Year’ campaign for Dubai featured a fun infographic depicting KitKat branding and a passenger’s packing journey – from suitcase angst to traveller joy. 

Meanwhile for Hainan, the infographic featured KitKat branding and a character travelling from a winter climate into a tropical one, showcasing the idea of travelling south in China.  

Says Nestlé ITR general manager Stewart Dryburgh: “This campaign was designed to extend KitKat’s digital brand awareness among returning global travellers. We wanted to celebrate the whole passenger journey at the airport with seasonal branded communications to drive traffic into our retail locations. Our goal was to increase and drive sufficient brand awareness and consideration, on top of our direct customer communication, especially in the case of an impulse category, such as confectionery.

Whole trip targeting 

The KitKat campaign represents a new stage in digital marketing for Nestlé.  The company is focused on ramping up opportunities to target travellers to a specific destination in their travel journey, and across three key stages of trip duration:

Pre-trip: drive awareness in a fun and engaged way on the brand availability at the passenger’s visited airport.

Day of the trip: drive awareness, consideration and purchase of KitKat Senses; a way to remind passengers of of KitKat exclusive product availability at their visited airport.

During vacation: remind travellers of KitKat exclusive product availability at their visited airport once back from vacation with a focused communication on sharing / gifting.

The results of the campaign show how travellers visiting Dubai, Madrid and Hainan airports were engaged with KitKat brand awareness in far greater numbers than expected. In total 22 million impressions were delivered across the three target locations via eight different high traffic platforms. “We saw strong click through rates across all formats – meeting or exceeding our target benchmarks for the campaign. The focus on digital engagement was paramount, so we were pleased to see a 1000% increase in website sessions for December vs the year average,” says Tamara Spada, Marketing Manager of Nestlé ITR. Whilst the Covid crisis meant comparable sales levels were more challenging to measure, there was also a notable and beneficial increase in brand sales in all three locations.

The Ignacio Figueras Collection DUBAI takes to the skies

 Selected fragrance from The Ignacio Figueras Collection is listed by Emirates with an exclusive offer

IGNACIO FIGUERAS DUBAI, the luxury unisex fragrance from renowned Argentinian polo player, advocate and charity ambassador Nacho Figueras, has been listed by Emirates Airlines for the second quarter of this year.  

The agreement, with fragrance creator and distributor Lovely Distribution Company Ltd, is exclusive to the airline, which is offering a free 10ml purse spray as a gwp with every 100ml bottle purchased.  Ideal for the ‘traveller on the go’ the 10ml gwp enables Emirates to offer a point of difference over the domestic market. Price on board is $220 (domestic rrp is $275 without the purse spray).

Voyagers in a sea of sand and sun. Presented in an elegant, modern, jewel-like designed bottle with intricate gold toned horseshoe cap, Dubai has a very sophisticated oud that represents a crossroads of culture, commerce, commodity and architecture. Earthy Oud oil, suede, sandal wood, ginger and tonka bean, are all reminders of a true oasis of hospitality and the noble sport, polo. 

DUBAI is one of six scents that make up the Ignacio Figueras Collection, all inspired by his lifestyle, emotions and colours of six international polo tournament destinations — Buenos Aires, Palm Beach, Aspen, Windsor, Jaipur and Dubai.  

The Lovely Distribution Company worked with IFF master perfumer Carlos Benaim to create the collection of fragrances for Figueras, one of the top 100 polo players in the world, captain of the US Black Watch Polo Team and international recognized model and businessman. Each scent has notes and design cues that portray the stories connected to the grand Polo locations upon which they are based. 

“LDC launched the Ignacio Figueras Collection in December 2019 exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman, followed by an exclusive launch with Harrod’s in May 2022. Since then they have expanded the collection into Neiman Marcus in the USA, and niche and exclusive perfumeries in Europe and the Middle East.  Targeted at the affluent consumer – polo enthusiasts with a luxury lifestyle that appreciate quality products, the Ignacio Figueras Collection has quickly established itself as a leading player in the luxury fragrance sector. The Dubai fragrance is the perfect fit for Emirates Airlines and its passenger profile and we’re delighted to have secured this listing for the brand,” comments Jacqui Kissenpfennig, Chief Commercial Officer, The Lovely Distribution Company Ltd.

IGNACIO FIGUERAS DUBAI: Top Notes: Coriander, Ginger, Cardamon; Middle Notes: Tonka Bean Absolute, Suede, Vanilla Bean Extract; Base Notes: Oud Oil, Sandalwood, Vetiver Haiti.  

Porsche Design begins 2022 with exceptional new eyewear concepts for travel retail

Lifestyle brand Porsche Design has put a focus on perfection and precision at the forefront of its plans for 2022, with brand new concepts which combine a unique design and maximum functionality, in line with the brand’s core DNA.

In 2022, Porsche Design aims to optimise the function in all its releases and reduce the form to the basic essentials in order to find the best solutions for consumers, time and time again.

Porsche Design has announced three new ranges to be released for travel retail shoppers in 2022: The Hexagon range, which recalls the brand’s origins in passion, performance and motorsport; The Cyber Tec range, which embodies Porsche Design’s distinctive and forward-looking design, and The Hybrid Range, which seeks to break set design rules and define new limits.

Rodenstock Director Global Retail and International Key Accounts Eyewear Lucas Gestin said: “This year is an exciting one for Porsche Design as this iconic lifestyle brand marks its 50th anniversary.

“It is fitting for a brand with style and innovation at its heart that half a century after it started, it is continuing to produce exciting and ground-breaking designs which will capture the attention of customers all over the world.

“As shoppers return to travel retail, they are looking for excitement and newness. The sunglasses category will play a key role in the coming recovery thanks to its inherent link with the travel experience, and these new ranges will stand out both on-shelf and online for retail partners.”

The Hexagon Range

This collection features a masculine design, with two models: P’8937 and P’8938. The styling is inspired by the engine block of a Porsche 911 and each frame is individually screwed and hand-finished to deliver a true luxury quality.

The Cyber Tec Range

Taking design cues from the iconic Porsche 911, with its striking, clear outline, as well as the earpiece elements, which serve as a reminder of the rear lights of the sport car, The Cyber Tec range has an exciting and masculine design. It also incorporates functional aspects and contrasting colours, which emphasise both the style and forward-thinking design across two prescription frames (P‘8732 and P‘8733) and two sunglasses (P‘8934 and P‘8935). 

The Hybrid Range

Aiming to break design rules, this range features a reduced upper edge of the frame, and the main material is put at the lower edge of the spectacles as a design element. All of this creates a contemporary and forward-looking collection, which is aimed at all design-savvy customers with modern and eye-catching prescription frames. The two designs (P’8388 and P’8389) are available in three colours.

All three new collections launched in January.

Rodenstock reinvents eyewear collections for 2022 in travel retail

 

Rodenstock has reinvented this year's eyewear collection with a particular focus on technical details and innovative technologies. 

In line with the brand’s guiding theme of "Engineered Purism", these new collections see pure aesthetics and a minimalist design meet uncompromising, forward-looking precision and unique craftsmanship.

Rodenstock Director Global Retail and International Key Accounts Eyewear Lucas Gestin said: “These new collections highlight the technical expertise and innovation which are the heart of Rodenstock. From exceptional modern concepts, through timeless styles, to minimalist designs delivering technical excellence, these collections offer something to inspire every travelling shopper.

“The sunglasses category is poised to be at the heart of travel retail’s recovery; shoppers associate this sector with the travel environment more than almost any other. But to capitalise on that, we need new, exciting and engaging designs and we are delighted to showcase the best of Rodenstock’s expertise with these new releases.”

Headlining Rodenstock’s Essentials segment is The Sun concept, which highlights the brand’s unique ability to blend design with technology.

   

   

Engineered for him and for her, The Sun concept combines Rodenstock’s two core competencies: frames in a top-class design with high-quality Sun Protect lenses.

The two women's models (R3329 and R3330) ensure a feminine look in an elegant butterfly shape with a two-tone, slightly transparent frame rim made from acetate. Whereas the two men's models (R1443 and R1444) have a reduced but striking design with characteristic rivets and a metal bridge.

The Sun Protect lenses provide optimal UV400 protection and protect the eyes against harmful sunlight.

Rodenstock’s "Engineered Purism" is showcased across the new collection's three segments: New Heritage leverages 140 years of experience to showcase modern and exceptional product concepts; the

Lite Tec segment features modern and minimalist frames highlighting technical performance, reduced use of materials, lightness and individualisation, and the Essentials features versatile and timeless styles, which offer the right frame for every look, manufactured with forward-looking technologies.