The Moodie Blog

One of the most respected exhibition firms in travel retail is lending its support to a vital charity for UK soldiers injured in the line of duty – and the industry is being encouraged to assist.

Next month three team members of Derbyshire-based Pentalpha Exhibitions and Interiors – Ian Kirk, Paul Sheldon and Andrew Lancashire – will set off on a gruelling 13-day expedition across Europe in aid of Help for Heroes, which raises funds for wounded troops.

Leaving on 15 June from Littlecote House (the American Air Force base during World War II), they aim to cover a round trip of 3,500 miles, taking in seven countries in a 24-year-old Land Rover Defender. They will follow the route taken by Allied troops during the World Wars, through Normandy, the Somme and Arnhem, finishing in the Bavarian Alps.

The three are aiming to raise money through donations and sponsorship. To assist, either:
*Send cash or a cheque made out to Help for Heroes, to Pentalpha Exhibitions, Unit 8, Butterley Croft Park, Ripley, Derbyshire DE5 3QL, UK
*Or go online to www.bmycharity.com/teampentalpha and donate on the collection page.

“Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman, this is your Captain speaking. Welcome aboard Delta airlines 007 from Dubai to Atlanta, our flight time this evening will be 15 hours and 34 minutes.”

The great adventure had begun, writes Dan Cappell. I was flying Dubai to Atlanta and then on to Nashville, Tennessee while my chosen guest (my brother-in-law), was taking an even longer route from Auckland, New Zealand, via Honolulu to Louisville for the 2013 Brown Forman Kentucky Derby charity trip. It promised to be the trip of a lifetime…

Day 1: Arriving in Nashville

Some 24 hours after the Captain’s welcome aboard, I checked into the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, ranked as one of the top 100 luxury hotels in the world. It didn’t disappoint and I would recommend anyone to stay there if you’re ever in Nashville.

The programme detailed a relaxing first day with Jim Perry, the charismatic Brown-Forman Global Travel Retail Vice President and Managing Director. It was Jim’s vision to conduct a travel retail auction of a once-in-a-lifetime trip for two to the 2013 Kentucky Derby with all proceeds going to The Moodie Report Foundation (dedicated to cancer research).

Surrounded by cowboy hats galore, we sampled some of the very best Nashville had to offer. Exquisite food, excellent wine and of course copious amounts of Jack Daniel’s and many happy hours spent in ‘Tootsies’, one of the trendiest country & western bars in the city. What goes on tour stays on tour as they say so I will not digress any further, aside to say thanks Jim for your fabulous company and many laughs in Nashville.

Day 2: Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee

After a sedate one-hour drive, Jim and I arrived around 10am at Lynchburg, a hamlet town of only 500 people, that ironically is ‘dry’ yet of course the worldwide production centre of Jack Daniel’s. The secret they say is in the caves and the water source that Jack found 146 years ago.

The site covers over 2,500 acres and the distilling process remains the same to this day. Fantastic, traditional Southern hospitality, lunch at Mary Bo Bo’s and a fascinating two-hour tasting with Master Distiller Jeff Arnett, who is only the 7^th Master Distiller in the 146 years history of the company, completed a wonderful day at Lynchburg.

Jeff is a true professional and a very gracious host. His knowledge and passion for what he does is, I believe, an inspiration to all who meet him (thanks Jeff for a brilliant couple of hours). Leaving Jeff in Lynchburg, we set off for Louisville and five hours later pulled into the Marriot Louisville… the Derby was only three days away.

Day 3: Meeting a riding legend

My guest and brother-in-law had flown in from New Zealand and after a ‘quiet night’ Kiwi style in Louisville we met Jim Perry (above right) at 6.30 am on Thursday and headed off to Churchill Downs – home of the Kentucky Derby.

Brown Forman is a major sponsor and their Woodford Reserve brand is the official Derby Bourbon. The Brown Forman Marketing and Media team, led by PR Director and guru Mr Rick Bubenhofer, were out in force and most gracious hosts.  They had somehow arranged for us to have 90 minutes with ex-US Champion jockey Donna Brothers (above second from left).

Donna retired in 1998 having ridden 1,171 winners in her career. She currently works for a number of network stations, including NBC, as a specialist racing commentator. Donna was amazing and with good grace and a wicked sense of humour managed to teach us more about horse racing in 90 minutes than in our lifetimes.

I promised Martin before I left that I would pick the winning horse at the Derby and donate those winnings to his charity; Donna had certainly helped in finalising the selection.

Two hours later we were teeing off at Valhalla golf course, home of the famous 2008 Ryder Cup. Our hosts were two of Brown Forman’s executive management team, Mr Jim O’Malley and Mr John Haynes, a 25-year veteran with Jack.

As Mark Twain once said “Golf is a good walk spoiled”, aside that is from Mr Perry who was level par after 8 holes, a magnificent effort no less,  with the highlight of his round being a  265 yard 3 wood from rough to within 6 inches  on the 16^th. The rest of us all had an excellent walk… sorry boys!

As it had been only two days since I landed, the time zones were blending in to the sunset and sunrise as we then headed for dinner at Brown Forman’s head office. Here we had a chance to meet other guests who had come far and wide for the Derby.

The dinner gave the Brown Forman management the opportunity to thank their customers, distributors and sales team during the award ceremony held over dinner. All the time the hype was slowly building for the big race. Yet more experts entertained us and advised us on who would win the Derby.

Was I confused? Yes definitely, but I still had my cunning plan and knew I would deliver on my promise to Martin to pick the winning horse.

Day 4: Putting myself out to stud…

Today saw us travel to the beautiful rolling countryside of Kentucky to visit one of the leading stud farms in the world. One can only say that these stallions don’t have a bad life after retiring from racing and once again we had experts advising us on who would win the big race!

I was becoming more and more confused albeit my plan (and my promise) remained intact.

Next stop was the Woodford Distillery. Whilst on a smaller scale than Lynchburg, the tour and incredible knowledge and humour of our guides made sure that a fantastic four hours were passed before heading back to Louisville for the Mint Julep Ball that evening at the KFC Yum Centre (a US$238 million, 22,500-seat basketball and multipurpose arena).

The Ball’s main function is to raise as much money as possible for the James Graham Brown Cancer Hospital. The guests did not disappoint and whilst I don’t know the final tally, over US$125,000 was raised for cancer research and development during the evening, a truly fantastic effort. Jim Perry was holding up well and proving a wonderful host. Excitement was really brewing now with less than 24 hours to the race.Day 5: Race Day

In racing terms, it looked like bad news as the weather had changed overnight from being beautiful all week with clear blue sunny skies to a wet winter’s day. It was pouring. The networks were going crazy, conditions were worsening and the form book was being thrown out of the window… yet I remained confident about delivering my promise to Martin.

Talk about style, those Brown Forman guys do it exceptionally well. A police escort to the track reduced our journey time by about two hours and then we were ensconced in a luxury suite on level 5 in the main grandstand overlooking the winning post. Wow!

The Derby was not due until 5.30 pm so after an excellent lunch and great conversation with other guests, it was time to assess the winnings and my betting strategy. Our syndicate was about US$1,000 ahead by 3 pm and me personally breaking even…ish!

The going had gone from hard to sloppy and it was mind boggling to imagine 20 beautiful animals running over a mile in these conditions. Swimming would have been more appropriate as the rain kept pouring.

It was time to implement my strategy to deliver on that promise. The look on the teller’s face when I said I wanted x number of $ on every horse was an absolute picture. “What, all 20 of them?” he asked, as he tried to explain the ‘intricacies’ of odds etc. It was clear that he thought I was one dollar short of a wallet full when I paid up and took a massive stack of betting slips back into the suite.

Divine intervention sometimes makes you smile and the rain gods were good to us, 15 minutes before the race started it stopped. There were over 135,000 people at the big event and the Derby has a reputation for exquisite outfits and hats amongst the Ladies. Suddenly everyone was outside and the noise decibels had increased tenfold. They’re under starter’s orders and they’re off…

At any event when a 50 –1 longshot is in second place two-thirds of the way through the race, the crowds tend to get excited. So do I. And the un-rated Golden Soul was doing just that.

I had US$50 on him to win. My cry of “Come on my son!” was one of many resounding around Churchill Downs. Alas Golden Soul faded to a brave second. After less than two minutes of mayhem, it was the 5 to 1 favourite Orb who crossed the winning line first.

Having backed the field, I had truly delivered on my promise to Moodie San;  I had won the Derby and yes the proceeds will be sent to The Moodie Report Foundation.

So many words unsaid, what an incredible few days, it certainly was a bucket list trip of a lifetime and all for an incredible cause, fighting against cancer.

The Brown Forman team were exceptional; a special thanks goes to Terri Cloud and Laura Koch for their handling of all the travel plans and trip details, to Pam Kellams and Kristy Brown – two of the best event planners you could ever meet.

To John and Jim for their company, humor and the opportunity to walk the hallowed fairways at Valhalla; to Rick and his team for the inside track on the race and event and of course to Jim Perry.

Jim many thanks, it was a pleasure having the opportunity to get you know you and your award for having to entertain my brother-in-law and I for nearly a week whilst remaining on top form will be issued in due course.

2013 Derby Winner, Daniel Cappell signing out!

Publisher’s footnote: Dan Cappell is currently Abu Dhabi Airports Company Vice President of Non Aeronautical Revenue and Business and is soon to join Australia Pacific Airports, operator of Melbourne and Launceston Airports, as General Manager Retail & Car Parks.

He was the highest bidder in the Brown Forman Kentucky Derby charity auction on behalf of The Moodie Report Foundation, paying with immense generosity from his own private funds in excess of the US$10,000 minimum.

The picture below of Dan (left) and Jim (right) says it all. Two gentlemen, a great company, a great pair of American whiskies, a great event and, most of all, a great corporate social responsibility initiative. True gentlemanhood.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that – even if you’re sat at the pointy end of the plane – most people look better getting on a long-haul flight, than they do getting off it. That was certainly the case for this writer en route to the recent TFWA Asia Pacific Show in Singapore, thanks to a first-class makeover by Linda Burns, who was at London Heathrow T5 to promote the long-awaited European travel retail launch of Dolce & Gabbana’s The Make Up, from P&G Prestige.

Linda Burns makes over The Moodie Report’s Rebecca Mann at Heathrow T5

To celebrate the launch, on 10-11 and 17-18 May, passengers were offered make-overs by Guest Celebrity Make-up Artists Emma Kotch and Linda Burns, who are more used to making up the likes of A-listers Renee Zellweger, Kristen Stewart and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (gulp). Burns arguably faced the challenge of her professional career when I rocked up in my long-haul travel clothes, sans a scrap of slap, ready for a 13-hour flight, but boy, did she rise to the occasion.

In 15 minutes flat, without so much as breaking sweat, Burns completely transformed my face, gifting me a flawless complexion and a modern, smoky eye, while chiselling the kind of cheekbones I could have cut bread with. I’ve enjoyed a lot of make-overs during the years and this was by some distance one of the best, thanks to a combination of Burns’s skills and the quality of the products she used. If there’d been a spare seat on the plane I’d have whisked her off to Singapore with me.

(Dolce & Gabbana face) Scarlett Johansson is probably not too troubled…

Instead, I had to make do with the next best thing: a customised list of all the products and shades Burns used – a nice touch which has no doubt helped to drive sales during the promotion. If only WDFG could have bottled her talent too, my spend would have been stratospheric.

I celebrated my new look with a little retail therapy (it would have been rude not to), an Elemis massage and a glass or two of fizzy pink – both courtesy of the BA Lounge. Consequently I boarded my flight looking, and feeling, like a million dollars. Alas, when I disembarked, the sum in question was closer to a couple of quid. But heck, it was fun while it lasted.

As the clock ticks down to The Moodie Report Great Travel Retail Educathlon (28-30 June), word is coming in of some extraordinary fund-raising efforts around the world.

As reported, the 2013 event is the follow-up to the hugely successful Moodie Multi-National Marathons of the past two years, which have raised over US$650,000 across the worldwide travel retail community.

It encourages participants from the travel retail industry to complete 7k on any of the chosen days in any location in the world. But in a new twist, they can complete the distance by any means at all – including walking, running, cycling, swimming, flying, ballooning, rowing, surfing, triathloning – the more creative the better.

Many industry executives have grouped together to form their own teams – and a number have forged ahead with some gold medal fund-raising performances to date.

Among them is Band on the Run (named after the 1973 Paul McCartney & Wings album of the same name), comprising King Power Group’s Sunil Tuli together with well-known industry executives Jessica Howells, David Spillane, Barry Geoghegan, plus Jessica’s husband Jon Howells and Billy Norman, known in travel retail as head of the Billy Norman Band, which has played many an industry event with distinction.

The group had an initial fund-raising target of US$15,000 – but such has been the number of pledges (US$20,000 and rising) that it has now doubled the projected figure to US$30,000.

Tuli tells us: “We have been shown a lot of support from friends and associates for this cause, and we are hoping to raise more in the next month or so before we do the Educathlon on 28 June.”

You can help give wings to Band on the Run by donating here - http://charitygiving.co.uk/jessicahowells

To support this and/or other teams, donations can be made either to specific registered participants or into a central race fund, with the money raised going to a group of local regional educational charities or schools nominated by some of the world’s leading travel retailers and industry bodies. These include:

ALIA PRIMARY SCHOOL – Nominated by Aer Rianta International ME
HAND IN HAND FOR HAITI – Nominated by DFS
KARATAS VILLAGE SCHOOL – Nominated by The Nuance Group
THE LOTUS FLOWER TRUST – Nominated by WDFG and WiT
SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES – Nominated by Dufry

The view from The Moodie Report’s Marina Bay Sands bureau is stunning and the facilities below my 40th floor room are something pretty special too.

What an amazing city state this is, and what a great choice of location for the relocated TFWA Asia Pacific show. Give me this view over that from, say, the Pan Pacific any day.

Like most of Asia’s travel retail industry, it seems, I’ve arrived in Singapore for one of the key events on the calendar.

After years of turning up at the same venue, everyone is intrigued as to how the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre will fare as a venue. First impressions are pretty favourable – the hotel itself epitomises modern Singapore: sleek, spectacular, vast and vibrant. The sprawling style won’t be to everyone’s taste but in terms of keeping delegates together on (an admittedly immense) site, it does the job.

The conference hall was cavernous, as big a classroom set-up as you would encounter outside a Moonie wedding ceremony, and boy was it packed for an excellent opening conference that surely attracted a record crowd.

Things kicked off in style on Sunday night with the Opening Cocktail at Raffles, a fun if sweltering affair organised in trademark slick fashion by TFWA.

[What is Stuart Bull telling the TFWA film crew?]

Industry attention is of course also tuned into Singapore for other reasons as the heat is turned up on the core category tenders currently out to bid at Singapore Changi Airport.

There DFS will be defending its liquor & tobacco concession and Nuance-Watson the perfume & cosmetics contract. Both have done a top-class job in Singapore. Both know they will face intense competition, not least from one another, with a glittering field of international retailers expected to take part.

[DFS Group's liquor & tobacco Arrivals duty free store to the left; Nuance-Watson's perfumes & cosmetics outlet to the right]

Given DFS’s wholly unexpected clean sweep at Hong Kong International Airport last year, this contest has extra edge. For Nuance-Watson it’s really a must-win after the bitter disappointment of Hong Kong. Nuance President Roberto Graziani promises a double-barrelled effort at both concessions but whether Changi Airport Group would put both commercial eggs in one basket remains to be seen.

Given that context, it’s been interesting to watch the DFS offer take shape at Hong Kong International Airport in recent months. I’ve flown through there several times this year and each time progress on this vast retail project has moved up a notch. Some of the hoardings are still in place but things are moving on at pace.

Liquor & tobacco seems to be the area where most progess has been made and there are a number of DFS innovations in place. Note the Lan Kwai Fong cocktail bar and complimentary wine tasting device below. It’s going to be a few months before the whole vast store network is transformed across all three core categories. And while that transformation takes place, another contract saga will be playing out at Hong Kong’s rival airport, Changi. In this business the drama never lets up.

I’m well settled in to The Moodie Report’s temporary Sanya bureau to cover the annual China Travel Retail conference but it was a close run thing…

I’ve long joked that the epitaph on my gravestone should read ‘Free of duty at last’ and that was very nearly the case after my Hong Kong Airlines flight to Sanya on Hainan Island landed earlier this week.

Never have I seen so much duty free in the overhead compartments. Never have I seen so many inflight sales recorded on a single journey.

The Chinese man in front of me, who alighted the plan laden down with liquor, tobacco.confectionery and beauty products, bought every  travel adaptor the airline had in stock (he could have powered half of China with his bounty), more jewellery than you would find in Buckingham Palace and half a Sephora shop’s stock of beauty products for his wife.

I don’t know if the airline made the usual post-landing “Be careful when you open the overhead compartments as items may have moved during the flight and could fall out” announcement. But if they did, my fellow passenger was not listening.

Duly he opened the compartment. What followed was like a duty free rainstorm. Down came the packs of Mild 7; down came the Chanel beauty items; and down came the Remy Martin VSOP. Down on me, that is, with the exception of the boxed bottle of Remy which bounced off my shoulder onto the head of a poor hapless old lady sat behind me. For a moment VSOP seemed to signify ‘visibly stunned old pensioner’ but she took the blow with remarkable calm.

“Sorry, very sorry,” the passenger said to her, seemingly oblivious to the sizable Mild 7-driven impression in my forehead (admittedly a good-sized target).

Never mind, what’s a scrape or two with fine duty free products compared with seeing our industry in such flourishing shape?  But if I ever do leave the world in this fashion, then I hope I’m upgraded at least to an XO.

The Moodie Report team has pledged a unique collective assault on the Great Travel Retail Educathlon – the 2013 follow-up to the hugely successful Moodie Multi-National Marathons of the past two years.

To be held between 28-30 June, the event encourages participants from the travel retail industry to complete 7k on any of the chosen days in any location in the world in support of a range of charities. But in a new twist, they can complete the distance by any means at all – including walking, running, cycling, swimming, flying, ballooning, surfing, triathloning – the more creative the better.

London-based members of the Moodie team have opted to complete the 7k on the water. Starting from Brentford lock just by our offices, and with a professional coach assisting, ‘Team Moodie’ will be using kayaks, canoes and paddleboards to head up-stream from Brentford towards Hanwell, 3.5km and (hopefully) back.

The Moodie marine team is hoping for an improvement on the recent bitterly cold weather in London for as the old adage goes, you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

Team members include the aptly named Ed Lake, Gavin Lipsith, Genevieve Knevitt, Helen Pawson, Joanna Puckett, Mandy Sime, Matt Willey, Mike Sawicki, Rahul Odedra, Rebecca Earley, Rebecca Mann, Richard Jell, Victoria Bowskill, Ying Wei and Adam Collier.

Elsewhere in the world, the Moodie diaspora will be completing the task in various ways:

-  Deputy Chairman Dermot Davitt will be climbing a mountain; 7km up and back, he informs us.  Galway Mountain Rescue (http://www.gmrt.ie/) is understood to have drafted in extra resources for the occasion.

-  Melody Ng, based in Singapore, will be braving the local heat to run the 7km in typically determined style.

-   And finally our non-London UK team, Claire Wates, Sarah Genest and Mary Jane Pittilla, will be joined by family and pets to complete 7 loops of their local lake – walking (not on water, although it’s rumoured all of them can), jogging and cycling.

The fundraising site for ‘Team Moodie’ is up and running – visit www.charitygiving.co.uk/joannapuckett to donate or sign up yourselves at www.moodieeducathlon.com

The Moodie Educathlon – Helping support education worldwide. Please support us.

Note: Charities to benefit from the Educathlon are:

SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES , Brazil – nominated by Dufry

ALIA PRIMARY SCHOOL, Bahrain – nominated by Aer Rianta International-Middle East

LOTUS FLOWER TRUST, India – nominated by World Duty Free Group and Women in Travel

LYCÉE JEAN BAPTISTE POINT DU SABLE, Haiti – nominated by DFS Group

KARATAS VILLAGE SCHOOL, Turkey – nominated by The Nuance Group