The Challenge of Change – Investing in People and Mankind

Never at an industry conference have I been moved to tears – other than perhaps by sheer boredom. Today, thanks to a searing, visceral speech by humanitarian and singer Sir Bob Geldof, that changed. The man who first became famous for his signature song ‘I don’t like Mondays’ with The Boomtown Rats seemed to underline

Read More

Showtime as TFWA World Exhibition celebrates 25 years

It’s showtime – the 25th TFWA World Exhibition got underway last evening at the Carlton Hotel on the Croisette at Cannes, culminating in a fireworks display that lit up the night sky. We’ll bring you more images from the opening event of the show later. Changi Airport Group Assistant Manager, Planning & Leasing Tan Cai Ping,

Read More

Famous four to the fore at Gebr Heinemann & Hugo Boss golf tournament

  A high-class four-ball of (left to right) Dubai Duty Free’s Colm McLoughlin, Frey’s Clive de la Roche, L’Oréal Produits de Luxe International’s Eric Tarral and Aer Rianta International-Middle East’s John Sutcliffe won Sunday’s annual Gebr Heinemann & Hugo Boss golf tournament that precedes TFWA World Exhibition. Held at the Cannes Mandelieu course in brilliant

Read More

Gebr Heinemann and Fraport alliance triumphs in MIS-HIT Trophy

“This proves that a retailer and an airport authority can work together successfully.” Those were the words of Gebr Heinemann Co-Owner Gunnar Heinemann (pictured centre) after he and Fraport Head of Airline Relations Martin Turek (left) won the annual Moodie International Superstars Honorary Invitation Tournament – affectionately known as The MIS-HIT – yesterday. A field

Read More

Avec pommes frites?? Sacre bleu!

Cannes’ restaurants provide a fascinating, sometimes glorious, sometimes extortionate, often maddening range of experiences. Most long-time Cannes visitors have their well-established favourites, places where fine French cuisine can be found, across a variety of budgets to suit the occasion. Others, as numerous complaints to the TFWA organisers down the years will testify, are not so

Read More

‘Where brands meet the world’

The Moodie Blog is in Cannes for the TFWA World Exhibition – the 25th anniversary of the travel retail industry’s leading trade show. As always we’ve set up our temporary French Riviera bureau at our apartment right opposite the Palais. Across from us a giant hoarding promoting the exhibition dominates the skyline, and the Moodie

Read More

Adding critical ‘meters’ to the airport shopping experience

During his superb presentation at the recent Trinity Forum in Macau, Zürich Airport Chief Commercial Officer Peter Eriksson (above) produced a telling slide that he suggested could act as a useful indicator of whether the industry’s retail ‘experiences’ actually lived up to the billing. He called it ‘Retail experiences – Love places & Hate places’. We liked

Read More

Scorpio nails Bourjois account

Scorpio Distributors showed how it nailed the Bourjois account in more ways than one last week, as Group Managing Director Stuart McGuire unleashed his inner metrosexual with a modish manicure. At a launch event in London, Scorpio previewed a selection of specially created Bourjois sets to the UK’s leading inflight retailers, and, of course, The

Read More

Pride of Thailand

Last Friday night’s 20th anniversary celebration for King Power International Group (Thailand) was an emotional night for the company’s staff and management. Through the two decades of its existence, the past two and a half years have perhaps been the most turbulent – making Friday’s unbridled celebrations all the more poignant. For a start, the

Read More

The good, the bad and the ugly – the many faces of public relations

Partly because of the extensive online pictorial coverage we give to brand launches, and partly because of the imminent TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, The Moodie Report is currently being inundated with product-focused press releases. My in-box keeps bursting beyond its limits with scores of files, often accompanied by seven or eight images, cramming my

Read More

Heart 2 Art from TFWA as dreams come true

Take a look at each of these pictures – let your eyes linger longer than they normally would. Look at the happiness and beauty bursting from them all. They each form part of an outstanding initiative by TFWA to mark its 25th anniversary in Cannes later this month. The association has pledged €50,000 to two

Read More