Getting Comms Right

The first TFWA Digital Village Pitch Corner offered those in the audience a fascinating glimpse of the future of duty free and travel retail. First to the podium in the specially organised session hosted at the Palais des Festivals was Neil Muir, MD of digital experiences company Blynk. He was followed by Chris Morriss and Duncan Craig of Concourse Display Management, who spoke of ‘actual reality’ and how to bring the digital and live world together. The world’s first non-violent integrated personal safety solution for women was showcased by WanderSafe’s Stephenie Rodriguez, and then Julie Lassaigne from ETRC detailed the organisation’s digital solution to meet labelling legislation. Next on stage were Upsilon and 7ème Ciel, who spoke about innovation in audio-visual technology for exhibitions and sales areas. Ethos Farm’s Mathew Garner spoke about how to enhance a customer service offering via new technologies, and Groupe FG Design addressed the issue of creating impactful and effective physical meetings.

Customer experience agency Albatross CX kicked off the second session of the day by presenting their CX App, a tool to help retail teams improve the customer experience. There was much exploration of digital inflight shopping solutions from SKYdeals and airfree, as well as how to target potential shoppers at different points on their travel journey from Iconiction and IMM. Sampling Innovations Europe impressed attendees with Self Sampling®, a fully automated system that dispenses a single fragrance or make up sample at the touch of a button. Merging the physical and digital worlds via NFC tags was the topic of focus for Thinfilm, while Aircommerce talked delegates through Airportpopup.com, a digital marketplace for matching available space for temporary experiential retail with brands looking to ‘pop up’ at airport locations.