Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail (MITR) has begun rolling out an unprecedented airport advertising and communications campaign to celebrate the launch of a M&M’s limited-edition Salted Caramel line and a new Celebrate range.
The ‘full throttle’ campaign, in partnership with world out of home (OOH) advertising leader JCDecaux, is being conducted across Amsterdam Schiphol, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, DXB (Dubai International), Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Singapore Changi airports.
It will be supported by in-store executions with lead confectionery retailers at those airports while shopping bags at Heinemann’s Sweet Dreams stores at Hong Kong International Airport will feature M&M’s/retailer co-branding from July.
MITR Category Director Raghav Rekhi is driving the project. Rekhi, a two-decade Mars man, joined the division in April 2018, charged with leading and developing the marketing team to “outstanding deployment” of the travel retail category vision and ITR strategies, both globally and locally. This campaign sees that mission take voice.
Speaking during an interview for issue 2 of Sight Lines (The Moodie Davitt Report’s new eZine title dedicated to airport advertising and communications), to be published early next month, Rekhi said that the airport retail sector’s historically mediocre penetration rates – which in some cases are declining – require a different mindset.
“You’ve got people going through their journeys who have needs which are largely going unfulfilled,” Rekhi said. Over recent months, he has led an internal project designed to identify and meet those needs and to create a much stronger connection between brand company and the travelling consumer.
“From a Mars Wrigley standpoint, we talk about conversion being our industry’s challenge. We’ve invested a lot of time and money into researching what is driving the trends of today and being able to put some specific data points by those. It’s about growing our industry as opposed to just really driving Mars’ market share – that’s not our primary KPI. Our primary KPI is to grow the marketplace. Because we’re confident that within that we can grow market share.”
A fun call to action
On the eve of the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition in Singapore earlier this month, MITR unveiled its ambitious airport media campaign.
“Why media? Is it because we want to drive brand awareness? Not really… globally, Mars spends about two billion dollars on A&P. So they do a good job in driving brand awareness and equity development. But I think there’s a real opportunity for us to drive awareness as travellers are making their way through their journey or on their path to purchase – because they’re purchasing for very different reasons.
“How do we put in place a fun call to action that makes them want to enter the retail store? So they see a consistent message that cuts through and gets noticed? So that they see something [in-store] that’s fun and engaging and gets noticed more because it’s already top of mind based on the advertising?
“They’re going to say, ‘Oh, look at that! Let’s go have some fun with it.’ So now there’s a connect. We are going to use media in a way that’s fun and engaging with clever call-to-actions in place that then relate to what we’re bringing to life in the retail environment, which is disruptive, fun, and engaging.”
Together with JCDecaux, MITR evaluated what peer companies do in a similar space. “It’s about using media in a way to drive top-of-mind awareness of the category that really gets people to turn their heads and say, ‘Wow, that looks like fun.’”
“For me, the magic words are fun and engagement. How can we use the opportunity of a very sophisticated retail channel to give travellers the opportunity to engage and have some fun that they can’t really do in domestic retail?”
It’s not just about embracing media airside but through the ‘path to purchase’ – the whole traveller journey. “How do we leverage that in a way that meets our over-arching objective of making our category more attractive and attracting travellers to it? When I have conversations with our retailers, I get the sense that it’s resonating with them, because they complain about the same things, to say, ‘Well, traveller numbers are going up but conversion isn’t. We aren’t getting as many people proportionately into our retail stores as we used to and those who come in don’t buy as much as they used to.”
How to stop the rot? While the value proposition for low cost or full service airline passengers might vary, it ultimately comes down to creating an engaging retail environment featuring categories and brands that consumers are interested in and trust, Rekhi said. “So the challenge for us is ‘How do we make it more attractive?’ And that’s the role of media. How do we use it? How do we leverage the technological capabilities that are very quickly coming in through digital media?
MITR is also working hard to make such campaigns more interactive, embracing technology that allows the consumer to capture a QR-type code imbedded in the advertising on their phone, bringing the brand experience to life in an innovative and fun way. This is likely to be trialled in Q3 and rolled out fully next year. “That will even bring static media to a new level of engagement that I don’t think you can otherwise reach.
“For me, the magic words are fun and engagement,” commented Rekhi. “How can we be first movers? How can we use the opportunity of a very sophisticated retail channel to give travellers the opportunity to engage and have some fun that they can’t really do in domestic retail? Because they don’t really have the time and they aren’t looking to have fun when they go to a Tesco or Walmart or a Carrefour. But when they’re in airports they’re looking for a little bit more.”
The advertising mechanisms will vary according to what platforms are in place at the selected airports. The big digital screens at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4, for also, will provide dramatic impact, while at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport a more traditional static media is being used.
“My personal point of view is that I’m probably going to deliver the most efficient, cost-efficient reach for Mars Wrigley anywhere in the world.”
Mobile offers further potential. “There’s a lot of opportunity between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for us to communicate directly with travellers,” said Rekhi. “They come from different backgrounds, different nationalities and use different languages. The moment you start communicating with them on their mobile phones, you can tailor it to the language of their choice, which makes your communication that much sharper.
“How can we link that with an opportunity to then draw them into the retail environment and help drive conversion? That is our over-arching objective for the industry and the area that I really want to be able to crystalise our thinking and strategy around.
“My personal point of view is that I’m probably going to deliver the most efficient, cost-efficient reach for Mars Wrigley anywhere in the world. I’ve developed domestic market advertising and I know what that costs to produce and to air. The reach delivery in traditional markets is a lot more expensive than reach delivery in airports.
“The sheer scale that we have and the number of eyeballs that we can hit in a month at a very efficient cost – that doesn’t necessarily need new ads being filmed and shot on location – makes it very attractive.”
[Look out for the full version of this interview in Sight Lines 2, out next month].
