UK. William Grant & Sons-owned whisky liqueur brand Drambuie has teamed up with Dufry to launch a trial run of the Café Drambuie activation at Heathrow Airport Terminal 3. The travel retail concept features a café bar with baristas serving a three coffee-infused cocktails. It was officially launched on 6 October and will run until 2 November.
The activation, designed as a ‘coffeehouse with a whisky twist’ was inspired by the intersecting craftsmanship of bartenders and baristas. It highlights Drambuie’s easy-to-mix appeal that the company said caters to both coffee and cocktail lovers from around the world.
Commenting on the activation, William Grant & Sons Europe and Americas GTR Regional Director Adam Green said: “Since our concept launched, the response to it has been amazing. It has more than covered our expectations for testing out the ways Drambuie can be used for coffee cocktails.
“People were intrigued by the bar activation, especially with the impactful Café Drambuie neon sign. The coffee station piqued their curiosity making them want to go straight to the bar. Our efforts to revive Drambuie as a premium liquor choice have caused people to see it in a different light. They are interested to try Drambuie at home and make the cocktails that were featured to them during their journey.
The concept was developed in collaboration with specialist travel retail communication agency HRG, part of Altavia Group. The concept was designed to sit within the duty free floor space, featuring high-visibility branding with a sampling bar, POS and takeaway cocktail cards. The dynamic activation is in a prime footfall area in the airport and aims to trial which of the three cocktails resonate the most with travellers.
The three cocktails are Drambuie Iced Espresso, Drambuie Iced Coffee (which is a latte akin to an Irish coffee) and Drambuie Coffee Tonic, which is a bittersweet alternative to gin and tonic.
The activation has proven to be an early success, attracting passengers with the striking neon Drambuie logo, café bar design and cocktail recipe cards, which according to the brand, is a key conversion metric.
The pop-up also features a special gift with purchase, a whole-bean coffee sack and grinder, which has proven to be an effective conversion tool with travellers.
Green added, “There has been a steady flow of travellers stopping by to try our trio of Drambuie cocktails. The baristas are fun to watch and visitors to the Drambuie Café have told them they are inspired to try the brand. The GWP of coffee grinder and coffee beans sample has proved an excellent conversion tool and we look forward to inspiring more coffee loving travellers as this trial continues over the coming weeks.”
William Grant & Sons is planning to trial the concept in the Nordic market with Scandlines in the Puttgarden border shop in November and December.
