INTERNATIONAL. Leading retail design and shopper marketing agency dcactiv has teamed up with well-known and respected industry executive Alan Brennan to launch dcGTR. The company, an associated business unit of dcactiv, is formally launched today, 5 March.
dcGTR said it will provide a comprehensive consultancy to the travel retail industry, enabling stakeholders “to better understand and compete in a transforming retail landscape, and integrate traveller insight and intelligence into targeted shopper journey strategies and activations”. The aim, they added, is to provide an end-to-end suite of services to customers (as highlighted in the video below).
Brennan said: “Aligned with the ambition to offer clients a unique end to end service, dcGTR has established a strategic collaboration with Swiss based m1nd-set, the leading research agency in travel retail, offering clients an integrated tech-based solution in traveller-shopper research.”
dcGTR said it will provide “first-to-market technology” to travel retail partners, leaning on dcactiv’s suite of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality 3D tools and integrated digital B2B apps.
These can be customised for travel retail sales, marketing and operations teams. The partners said that their “disruptive” solutions will help drive greater rates of customer conversion for retailers, brands and airports.
Brennan said: “We are bringing a fresh and differentiated approach to overcome industry issues of low footfall and conversion, with a powerful combination of technology, insight and research that offer stakeholders a unique opportunity to unlock the DNA on what drives greater shopper purchasing behaviour.”
dcactiv has developed its digital capability around six commercial pillars: planning, design, research, selling, execution and learning. Each can be applied to different stakeholders in the industry according to their business needs.
Crucially, the technology can be used to help retailers and brands build and test virtual store environments and brand activations with targeted shoppers, before any major investment in mobilisation and build-out of physical infrastructure.
The technology allows for the planning of digital and physical touchpoints across the shopper journey, while providing operational teams with 3D Apps to ensure “best-in-class in-store execution, compliance and continuous mobile learning on shopper engagement, retail skill and brand knowledge development”.
Founded in the UK in 1998, dcactiv has a strong track record in shopper marketing with brands and retailers. Major clients include Unilever, Lego, Nestlé, Imperial Brands, Energizer and Coca Cola.
Alan Brennan is best known for his 20-year career at Nestlé International Travel Retail, where he held various senior sales and marketing management roles, including Global Head of Sales.
dcactiv Managing Director of Associate Partnerships Robert Thorpe said: “The travel retail sector is in a period of major transition from old to new world retailing.
“The industry presents enormous opportunities for businesses such as dcGTR to advise and support brand owners, retailers and airports looking to deliver innovative and insightful retail offerings and experiences to an increasingly diverse, dynamic and presently misunderstood new world passenger.
“In every category, in every corner of the globe we are seeing an opportunity to bring about a transformation in how passengers and shoppers are engaged.”
He added: “We are specialists at building hyper-realistic virtual stores, products and activations. We have also cracked the code in how to transmit these large and complex virtual environments online while maintaining the quality, which allows us to research multiple iterations in many countries cost-effectively and in a way that mirrors the real world, which is something nobody else is doing.”
The partners claim their solutions are cost-effective compared to other technology-driven store design solutions in the market today. Thorpe noted: “The costs of entry are not as high as people imagine. We have built an extensive library of assets that we can rent out, meaning that we reduce those barriers of time and cost to clients. It’s a wonderful opportunity for retailers and airports who already have beautiful stores to put some added insight behind the beauty.”
The partners plan to attend TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore, TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes and other major industry events to discuss their solutions with potential clients, with 2020 earmarked for the development of an innovation pipeline in travel retail.
Contacts:
Alan Brennan, Managing Director, dcGTR
Robert Thorpe, Managing Director – Associate Partners, dcactiv
