Getting Comms Right

Early risers were able to share some of the latest thinking on the challenges and opportunities of the digital environment at this morning’s TFWA Digital Focus workshop. Kicking off the debate, Shi Ling Tan – Global Digital & Media Marketing Manager of Shiseido Travel Retail cited Shiseido Group President and CEO Masahiko Uotani’s vision to digitalise the company and to become the most digitally exciting beauty company by 2020. She also spoke of how the trinity could be extended to include others such as hotels and airlines.

Mondelēz World Travel Retail Head of Category Planning Ivo Knuesel stated that shopping no longer has the monopoly on travellers’ attention when they are at the airport. However, he believes that confectionery, as the key impulse category, has a major role to play in connecting with customers. He also spoke of the importance “phygital” retail, which blends the physical and digital, as well as “retailtainment”.

Jérôme Lepage, Marketing & Business Development Director of JCDecaux detailed how his company had experienced a massive growth in digital revenues, with digital revenue in the airport space rising from 18% in 2013 to 28% in 2017. Data is key to success, and to be most effective, this must be based on co-operation between all elements of the trinity.

The session concluded with an update from ETRC Deputy Secretary General Julie Lassaigne, who explored the impact of increasing legislative demands for product information. It is, she stated, impossible to meet local language requirements on the label, the requirements on the supply chain are onerous, and travel retail exclusives are being placed at risk. She then went on to detail ETRC’s pilot for a digital platform which would allow consumers to access essential information via a mobile device.