Our daily feature celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns from the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
CHINA. Bold beauty pop-ups have, in recent years, increasingly defined the travel retail beauty experience. This is particularly true at the CDF Mall in Haitang Bay on Hainan island, the location for many of travel retail’s most memorable activations.
Due to the commercial and human devastation caused by the COVID crisis, such ambitious events have become few and far in between. Which is exactly why it was so refreshing to see the return of the beauty pop-up with the Nars Icons Animation in Hainan.
As reported, Shiseido Travel Retail partnered with China Duty Free Group to launch an unmissable animation within CDF Mall at the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Hainan in June.
The striking red, black and white pop-up was inspired by a ‘Camera Obscura,’ which is the earliest predecessor of a photographic camera. The graphic lines created an optical illusion, mimicking the camera obscura’s interior mechanism. The outpost also references Nars Founder François Nars’s own passion for photography.
The term ‘Camera Obscura’ also means ‘optical illusion’ as it refers to the natural phenomenon that occurs when an image projected through a small hole appears to be inverted.
In a similar way, 2020 has inverted many of our perceptions. The whole world was put on pause, travel suddenly became parlous and the travel retail industry (as we knew it) was turned on its head. The already advanced trend towards digital was accelerated, spurred by the growing momentum of ecommerce, virtual events, augmented reality and live-streaming innovations.
The Nars Icons Animation serves as a happy compromise between pre-and-post COVID travel retail. It combines audacious visual design and self-service phygital elements with a China-focused omnichannel campaign, resulting in a seamless online-to-offline experience.
In fact, the outpost was so effective that Nars outperformed its sales targets by +26%, an excellent case study of how the beauty pop-up can be adapted for the new normal of travel retail.
Travel retail may have been through horrific turmoil but one emerging positive is that the beauty blockbuster is back.
Footnote: Do you have photos or video you would like to share via one of The Moodie Davitt Report’s most popular features? Simply send them to martin@moodiedavittreport.com
Shiseido Travel Retail goes Platinum at Virtual Travel Retail Expo Shiseido Travel Retail is a Platinum Partner for the inaugural Virtual Travel Retail Expo. The unique 5-day ‘live’ event, followed by a 30-day showcase, begins on 12 October, just after the conclusion of the Chinese Golden Week holidays. It features a star-studded series of events across the five days, including a Symposium, category workshops and a new consumer research initiative. Registration is free for buyers, exhibitors and preferred media partners. (Click here to register)
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