Swedish Match expands into Gulf travel retail with ZYN launch in Dubai

Swedish Match is continuing its expansion in travel retail with a new launch of its popular ZYN brand in the Gulf region, a traditionally important market for the tobacco category. 

Dubai Duty Free is the latest partner for Swedish Match in the Gulf, but the company is also hoping to build its presence in other key MEA markets as part of its continued dedication to both travel retail and building ZYN on an international stage.

The roll-out of ZYN in the Middle East began last year with the opening of three shops with Qatar Duty Free. Now, just ahead of next month’s FIFA World Cup in the region, ZYN will launch in six further stores with Dubai Duty Free in November, as Swedish Match continues to build awareness of the nicotine pouch category in the region.

ZYN nicotine pouches landed in global travel retail late last year, following a strong performance which has seen the brand become a market leader in the domestic market in the US and the strongest player within smokefree in the Nordics. ZYN is at the heart of Swedish Match’s vision of a cigarette-free world. In travel retail, the products offer incremental sales in the nicotine category for retailers and is the perfect choice for airports, inflight, trains, cruise and ferries as they provide more choice for shoppers by offering a product which they can use in locations where traditional smoking and vaping is not permitted.

Swedish Match Global Travel Retail Manager Johannes Varhelyi said: “We have been delighted with the response to ZYN since we launched it in the travel retail market a year ago. This is a product which does not cannibalise sales as it creates more options for shoppers in the market which can be bought in addition to cigarettes and for use at a different time. This means we are helping to create shoppers who are more at ease in the travel environment, especially when traditional smoking is not an option. 

“As we continue our dedication to travel retail, the Gulf market was the obvious next step for us due to its history as a key location for the tobacco category.”

The ZYN Cool Mint, Bellini and Espressino varieties are available at both the Doha and Dubai locations, while shoppers at Qatar Duty Free can also find the Citrus and Gold edition available for them. Swedish Match will also support the openings with the launch of ZYN Mini Dry, which ensures the brand can always provide the right product format with the right nicotine strength for every shopper.

The nine stores in Dubai and Doha are just the start of Swedish Match’s plans for the region, with the team also eyeing opportunities in the rest of the Gulf, Egypt, the Levant and South Africa.

Return to the MEADFA Conference

Swedish Match will underline its dedication to the Gulf and MEA region with its attendance at next week’s MEDAFA Conference in Bahrain. ZYN will be a Diamond Sponsor for the event and the team will be on-site with a dedicated stand to showcase their vision for the tobacco category and growth within the region and the wider travel retail market.

Swedish Match Travel Retail Manager Johannes Varhelyi added: “We are very excited to be returning to the MEADFA Conference. Last year’s event was the perfect platform for us as we launched ZYN in travel retail and we are looking forward to meeting friends, colleagues and potential partners to discuss our plans and how we can help build retailers’ tobacco sales in the Gulf and the wider MEA region.”

Molton Brown celebrates the return of Christmas in travel retail with new Merry Berry & Mimosa Collection

The festive season is almost upon us once more and for the first time in three years, the travel retail industry is looking forward to celebrating the holiday with travellers in stores and on board. To mark this joyous occasion, British fragrance experts Molton Brown are bringing the cheerful chaos of Christmas to life with a new collection, Mixed Berry & Mimosa, available in travel retail outlets.

For more than four decades, Molton Brown has been shoppers’ ultimate Christmas gifting destination and this year the brand is celebrating the season of merriment with a delectable fragrance which captures the light-hearted joy of spending the season with loved ones – with all the noise, laughter and unexpected surprises.

Created by Senior Perfumer Nathalie Koobus, Merry Berry & Mimosa is an elegant, fruity-floral fragrance, spotlighting notes of candied red berries and mimosa which deliver citrus top notes, a heart of orris and a base of raspberry and musky wood to create a glorious blend of freshness and warmth.  The collection features a Bath & Body Wash, Body Lotion, a Scented Candle and a Festive Bauble. It will be available for travel retail shoppers as part of the Molton Brown festive gifting collection which also includes a host of best-selling gift sets.

Sustainability is very much at the heart of decision-making for shoppers and partners in the travel retail industry this festive season. Since its foundation in 1971, Molton Brown has firmly believed that luxury and sustainability go hand-in-hand and that belief is clear in the creation and presentation of this latest collection.

As part of its on-going sustainability efforts, Molton Brown’s iconic bottles are all made with 50% recycled plastic at the brand’s carbon-neutral manufacturing facility in Elsenham. The Festive Bauble and Scented Candle boxes are also made from 100% recycled materials, which can be recycled again once the base layer is removed, a theme which is consistent with the brand’s full gifting collection. 

Sophie Sponagle, Interim Global Account Manager, Travel Retail, Molton Brown, said: “We are all overjoyed to see Christmas return properly to the travel retail market as people from all around the world travel once more to celebrate the holiday season with loved ones.

“At Molton Brown, we have been an icon of festive gifting for years and we are thrilled to capture the true spirit of holiday togetherness with this fragrance. The Merry Berry & Mimosa Collection speaks to the sense of togetherness at Christmas, as well as the on-going work to create a cleaner and more sustainable luxury beauty market.”

The Merry Berry & Mimosa Collection consists of a Bath & Shower Gel (300ml), a Body Lotion (300ml), a Festive Bauble (75ml) and a Scented Candle (190g). The collection is now available at all World Duty Free locations.

Nestlé ITR unveils new ‘Live Your Break’ communication strategy for KITKAT

Nestlé ITR has reimagined the successful ‘Live Your Break’ campaign created for its iconic KITKAT brand. The original campaign, introduced in 2017, identified four strategic breaker communities (Adventure, Wellness, Urban & Festival), which were specially selected to highlight the experiences Millennial consumers looked for when they travelled. The new and updated communication strategy is designed to meet the needs and demands of Millennial and Gen Z travellers as they re-embrace the travel sector post-COVID. The campaign, previewed to retail partners at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, will debut at key international airports in early 2023.

“We believe that there’s never been a better, or more relevant, time to tell our consumers to #LIVEYOURBREAK,” explained Nestlé ITR marketing manager Tamara Spada. “KITKAT is synonymous with breaks – and travel is once more becoming the ultimate break in the routine of our daily lives. Live Your Break 2023 will bring to life the emotive reasons people choose to travel, with a world of imagination, flair and excitement to be discovered and shared through a range of airport-exclusive KITKAT products.”

The reconceptualised KITKAT Live Your Break campaign has identified four new traveller profiles: the Urban Explorer, the Thrill Seeker, the Social Connector and the Wellness Unwinder. They will be targeted with key visuals (both product- and lifestyle-based) centred on KITKAT Senses Range. These visuals will present the products as aspirational choices that deliver an indulgent yet attainable and exclusive break within the travel environment – and are different from the everyday breaks experienced in the domestic arena.

Lifestyle images will feature the tagline ‘Break in a World of Flavour’ and depict travellers in city and country landscapes. Product images will carry the tagline ‘Bring Home an Exclusive Break’. All are connected using coloured ‘waves’ that sweep in and out of the visuals. The different shades will represent the corresponding pack colours of KITKAT Senses Tablets, along with key ingredients such as almonds, hazelnuts, caramel pieces and dark chocolate swirls. 

The KITKAT Live Your Break 2023 strategy will incorporate NITR’s Digitally Connected Shopper approach, with key visuals, activations and engagement present at all strategic touchpoints – and digital channels at the heart of the campaign.

360-degree communication tools will target consumers across their full travel journey, with differentiated messaging implemented pre-trip, at the airport, during their trip and on the airport return. The campaign’s main objectives are to build curiosity; create awareness of what is available, and inform travellers of the exclusive opportunity to purchase products unavailable elsewhere.

Spada concluded: “Our 2023 Live Your Break strategy combines three key messages: Break in a World of Flavour, Bring Home an Exclusive Break, and Only Available in Airports, all presented to travellers throughout their journey touchpoints in a targeted and connected way, using a combination of advertising, branded POS and a full digital engagement toolkit.

“We are confident that this bright, colourful and meaningful campaign will further drive growth within the premium and gifting confectionery categories, while creating shared brand experiences that enrich and enhance our consumers’ travel journeys.”

PVM sees ‘unprecedented demand’ for Chupa Chups airport retail activation concept at TFWA WE

Perfetti Van Melle (PVM), one of the top companies in the travel retail sugar confectionery segment, has reported unprecedented demand for its new Chupa Chups customer engagement activation concept, which was launched to industry partners at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes last month. 

PVM plans to tour the Chupa Chups brand activation concept at a number of global airport locations in 2023, with the launch likely to be over a two-month period in Europe first, at the beginning of 2023. 

PVM is looking to increase consumer engagement on the duty-free shop floor and underscore its focus on fun for its key brand Chupa Chups.  

PVM used TFWA WE as a showcase to launch its Chupa Chups travel retail activation kiosk concept that includes a photo booth and product promotion area to encourage customers to engage with the Chupa Chups brand. Passersby can have their photo taken as one of the Chupa Chups backpack animal family, take-away a polaroid memento and receive the digital photo, using a QR code.  

“We have been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reactions from our travel retail partners – everyone is keen to have our Chupa Chups engagement kiosk installed. We are talking to several key customers at major airport locations about running the activation – some people are asking for just a digital version as well as the hard copy photo option that travellers get to take away,” said PVM Brand Manager, GTR Femke van Veen. 

“We are currently making some tough decisions about where the kiosk will travel to in 2023; we are also looking at building another kiosk so that we can double up on the schedule for next year.”

Another success story from PVM’s time at the TFWA WE show was the popularity of its Chupa Chups lifesize tiger mascot. “Our Chupa Chups mascot was another great marketing decision for Cannes – everyone loved it and we’ve had lots of requests for the mascot to be present as part of the kiosk activation at airports,” said van Veen. So far, the Chupa Chups tiger and dino mascots have toured a number of promotional events for PVM, visiting Riyad, Denmark and New Delhi as well as Cannes. 

“Chupa Chups is aggressively targeting expansion in our key travel retail markets of EMEA, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and the Americas. We are keen to grow the brand in high traffic passenger locations and at till points – and we know customer engagement is a vital tool to achieve brand visibility. We want to be front and centre at airports and on the duty-free shop floor. 

“We have come back from Cannes with lots of positive feedback for creating new partnerships and our Chupa Chups kiosk activation was the star of the show. We are excited to take this promotion around the world to as many locations as physically possible!” added van Veen.