Consistency is a Powerful Tool for Brands In Global Travel Retail

Just imagine it’s 9pm in Madrid Airport, you’ve browsed the stores, experienced a number of brand activations and bought the whiskey the brand promoter introduced you to. Twelve hours later you land in Sao Paulo airport and after collecting your luggage walk through the arrivals store. Do you see the brands you saw in Madrid airport ‘showing up’ the same way? In my opinion it would be more memorable and powerful if they were.

Large international airports are unique places; it's hard to think of other places that are more cosmopolitan. In ‘normal’ times they are full of travellers from different countries all over the world. For brands this offers huge opportunities to be seen by multiple nationalities and therefore grow their international awareness. 

To do this effectively I think brands need to be consistent in everything they do across all  international airports. Consistency is important in all aspects of how a brand is presented and communicated to shoppers. This includes packaging, merchandising/displays, promotion and experiential activations. 

It is always tempting and maybe easier to deploy marketing tools available from the local market in which the airport is located but in the case of large international airports I would advise against this. A global consistent approach will be much more powerful and effective especially when deployed over the long term. You can add a local flavour to your messaging, as some brands for example have done with city specific packaging, as long as the look and feel and core messaging is consistent everywhere.

I would love to know what you think. Do you agree or do you have a different experience and point of view?