Planes, brand names and very good deals
Martin Moodie reports on duty free stores that have abandoned the “stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” mentality and become innovative, enticing and packed full of whisky delights to tempt the traveller
The giant posters adorning Sydney airport are as loud and brash as the meatiest Aussie shiraz. âGuilt Free Duty Freeâ blares out the copy line underneath images of Rayban-wearing nuns carrying ghetto blasters, Sony Walkmans and Chanel No 5. All thatâs missing is a bottle or two of Lagavulin poking out from under their habits â even for the Aussies that might have been a step too far.
The controversial campaign, run by the worldâs number two duty free retailer, The Nuance Group (part of the troubled
Swissair Group), is typical of the in your face manner in which the worldâs top duty free retailers are trying to turn captive travellers into captivated shoppers. Nuance didnât stop at rocking nuns. For its famous lesbian and gay Mardi Gras festival the company featured Stolichnaya vodka wrapped in leather as duty free finally came out of the closet and began to realise the value of the pink pound (I once wrote a spoof for a duty free magazine a few years earlier in which I announced the launch of Johnnie Walker Pink Label, a blended whisky for gay men, in which the famous striding man minced across the label in a vest and tight leather pants â a bemused United Distillers was flooded with orders).
Now before our readers choke on their drams in the glens of Scotland, let me assure you this is not an article about the outing of Scotch whisky. I cite Nuanceâs offbeat approach only to underline the way many duty free stores are becoming some of the most innovative.....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Whisky Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
You can unlock and read this entire article with 1 of your community tokens by clicking here.
By Martin Moodie
Section : Travel retail
Page number : 62
