GERMANY. BAT Global Travel Retail (GTR) has launched the ‘Inspiration Store’ pop-up at Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1.
The animation opened on 4 July and showcases the company’s vaping brand Vuse to international travellers. The brand describes the space as a ‘New Categories Next Generation’ concept. It was launched in partnership with Gebr. Heinemann, through its joint venture Frankfurt Airport Retail (FAR), and Frankfurt Media.
Taking insights and learnings from previous activations, BAT GTR’s pop-up store is designed to engage with adult ‘New Categories’ customers through an immersive, highly-digitalised experience.
The store features a dedicated team of brand ambassadors, an innovative sensorial flavour experience, as well as several interactive digital touchpoints and digital tablets with educational brand content.
All this comes together to give travellers a highly-digitalised journey, where they can learn about BAT’s Vuse brand, its reduced risk potential compared to smoking, and its innovative product portfolio.
BAT GTR said that the choice to launch the pop-up in Frankfurt Airport was a strategic one. The airport is a key international hub and Germany is one of the largest vapour markets globally.
“We have been working closely with the end market retail team to gain insights to create a consumer-centric environment,” commented BAT GTR Head of Customer Management Tony Clayton. “Through this creative and digitalised pop-up store, we want to engage with our adult smokers and nicotine consumers around the world and educate them about our innovative products, allowing them to better learn and understand our New Categories offerings and make their informed choices.”
Vuse, one of the world’s top global vaping brands, is a highlight of the BAT GTR pop-up. Vuse products contain -99%* less toxicants than cigarettes. The brand is known for its bold flavours and colourful devices, which feature multi-dimensional shapes on the packaging. At the pop-up, a Vuse engraving machine enables customers to personalise their devices.
Clayton added, “Through this store, we are ensuring that adult smokers are aware of what we call ‘New Category’ products. This pop-up store is also a key driver for BAT GTR to accelerate New Categories growth and digital transformation. We will continue to find a more seamless way to engage with our consumers around the world and bring them into our multi-category space in the future.”
Gebr. Heinemann Head of Buying Tobacco Niels Altmann commented, “Consumer activation through engaging pop-ups like this is key to educating shoppers about these innovations. With its New Categories pop-up debut in Frankfurt Airport, BAT is truly breaking new ground.
“As a long-standing partner, we at Gebr. Heinemann — also through our joint venture Frankfurt Airport Retail — are very happy to be part of this launch. The dwell time at this international hub makes it a perfect place for showcasing, engaging, and educating travelling consumers and reaching new target groups in global travel retail.”
Frankfurt Media Sales Director Peer Schmitz-Kuo added, “With this engaging brand activation, we combine the two strengths of Frankfurt Airport. The first is Frankfurt Airport Retail’s distinct know-how with direct shopping at the pop-up, and the longtime experience of Frankfurt Media in creating custom-made airport advertising and engaging promotions.
“In order to leverage our excellent media reach in this high-profile area, we also transformed the nearby elevator shaft with a sensational Vuse motif. Through these efforts, we attract a lot more attention of the passengers in the international area at Terminal 1.”
*Footnote: These products are not risk free and contain nicotine, an addictive substance. Comparison from a scientific standard reference cigarette (approx. 9mg tar) and emissions from Vuse ePod, ePod 2and ePen, in terms of the average of the 9 harmful components the World Health Organization recommends to reduce in cigarette smoke.
