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“Everyone can buy,” says the sign at World Duty Free Group’s Arrivals shop at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 but I wonder what percentage of inbound passengers actually will during the Olympic Games period?
I arrived back from Hong Kong to T5 on Saturday and was surprised to see that the store had not been dressed up with Olympics theming. Yes there was a small Cadbury ‘Go for Gold’ promotion but that was it.
Where was the ‘Best of British’, some gold, silver and bronze medal price and product promotions, some ‘Olympic spirit’ drinks offer, a London gin campaign, some great destination merchandise ? Where was team Great Britain (whisk(e)y, chocolate, wine, jewellery, shortbread and so much more to choose from)?
One could have a field day with Olympics-related promotions and hey, even if they don’t sell, it would be a memorable way to promote the World Duty Free brand as well as its suppliers.
Heathrow Airport, though, and its key advertisers, are trying harder. ‘Games family’ signs are strategically placed in the arrivals zone, while ‘Team London Ambassadors’, pretty in pink, hand out free London maps and guides.
Heathrow is also mounting a T5 Expo Exhibition. The ‘Jubilee’ Exhibition consist of two images, the ‘Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant’ and The ‘Queen’s Diamond Jubilee procession’.
Scaled to match the huge Royal events they portray, these images each measure 3 x 12.5 meters and will show the millions of visitors at Heathrow a unique piece of English history.
The Exhibition will be shown at T5 Departures Lounge from 27 July for three months, including the Olympics period. It’s good stuff, done in the right way at the right time.
