INTERNATIONAL. The Moodie Davitt Report today announces plans to build on the success of the inaugural Virtual Travel Retail Expo with a bigger and more evolved event in the second half of 2021.
The precise timing of the Virtual Travel Retail Expo 2021 will follow consultation with exhibitors, visitors and wider industry stakeholders.
Channel response to the Virtual Travel Retail Expo 2020 has been hugely positive with an outpouring of social media posts, likes, comments and shares. The Moodie Davitt Report will capture this sentiment and many of the show highlights in a special post-Expo ezine next week.
As a further commitment to transparency and the power of data, the company will also be releasing an event metrics dashboard, expanding on the impressive topline participation figures*:
• 4,373 unique visitors across the 5 days
• 50% visitor traffic retention from day 1 to day 5
• 124 stands and suites, with over 183,611 impressions
• 165,000 stand content clicks.
• 42 Knowledge Hub sessions with 30,051 views
• 32 Experience Hub sessions with 9,147 views
* As at 17 October 2020; the one-month, post-event ‘encore’ of the Expo will see all those figures boosted considerably.
The live event, which took place from 12-16 October, is being followed-up with a 30-day ‘encore’ period. Exhibitors and visitors are being granted access to all areas of the Expo platform, including the stands and suites in the Exhibition Hub and on-demand sessions of the Knowledge and Experience Hub, without additional charge. In the first few days of the encore, hundreds of industry executives are returning to the Expo to pick up from last week.
[The House of Somrus, represented in travel retail by Duty Free Global, brought coffee breaks with a difference to the Virtual Expo, courtesy of the amazing Sadekar sisters]
One of the stand-out moments of the Expo came with the first-day announcement by Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive His Excellency Akbar Al Baker that all ten finalists in The QDF Factor would receive a six-month listing with Qatar Duty Free at Hamad International Airport, not just the winner.
The winner (or, as it turned out. dual winners, Long Haul Spa and Make Sure) each received a three-month primary position high-profile promotion and a three-month secondary placement, while third-placed Article 22 also received a three-month secondary position high-profile promotion.
The two winners also received complimentary US$50,000 advertising campaigns with The Moodie Davitt Report while Article 22 earned a US$25,000 campaign and all other finalists a double page spread in our forthcoming post-Expo celebratory eZine.
[A recap of the ten finalists in The QDF Factor]
[And the winners are revealed]
[Diamond Partner The SEVA Group underlined its ambitions with a dazzling presence at the Expo]
The Virtual Travel Retail Expo also delivered on its philanthropic mission, with a US$28,000 donation to the Smile Train to fund 112 cleft operations (one for each paid exhibitor); over 4,370 trees to be planted through OneTreePlanted.org and the Moodie Davitt Report’s Trinity Forest Project (one for each unique visitor); and key Expo partner FILTR donating US$16,000 in support of Women in Travel Retail’s 2020 nominated charity, ImpactHK.
The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie said: “We are humbled by the amazing reaction to the inaugural Virtual Travel Retail Expo from all corners of the globe and all aspects of our great retail sector.
“Full credit is due to the industry for embracing innovation and participating so actively and enthusiastically, especially during such a troubled period for the travel retail channel.
“I believe that the innovative mindset of The Moodie Davitt Report and our incredibly imaginative and resourceful partners FILTR and the way our partners embraced and then stretched this new horizon has created a transformational formula. It is one that can serve the needs of the industry long term, either supplementing or – when market conditions dictate – replacing physical events.
“The connectivity, interactivity and efficiency, twinned with the value-for-money and the sheer quality of content and experience, has been widely welcomed. Based on the strength of that response, it is with great pleasure that Dermot Davitt and I announce our plans for a 2021 event – and hopefully many more to come. A commitment to innovation has been an integral component of our DNA since we launched the company in 2002 and we plan to take it to a new level in 2021, both with the Virtual Travel Retail Expo and other similar events outside travel retail.”
For more information visit: www.virtualtrexpo.com
[Following an internal diversification programme called Project Aoraki, Moodie Davitt unveils four major virtual Expos for 2021 with more to follow. Click to view.]
COMING SOON
• Beauty Tech Live: A joint venture with BW Confidential that will showcase the joint worlds of beauty and technology (1-5 March)
• World of Spirits: A pioneering consumer + trade event for the drinks sector (8-14 March) – visit https://worldofspiritsxpo.com for details
• Summit of the Americas – A Virtual Experience: A joint venture with IAADFS & ASUTIL covering the wider travel retail channel in the Americas (5-8 April)
• Wellbeing World: A health professional + trade + consumer virtual expo (June 2021 tbc)
For details on any of these events please contact Martin Moodie at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com or Irene Revilla at Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com
