UK. Heathrow Airport has launched an exclusive, limited-edition Top Trumps card game celebrating its vast global network as part of the London gateway’s 80th anniversary celebrations {Note: The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie takes issue with the choice of name in his Moodie View column below}.
The Heathrow-exclusive, limited-edition Top Trumps cards showcase some of the airport’s most popular and far-reaching destinations, offering travellers an interactive way to discover the breadth of the airport’s network.
They are available exclusively across Heathrow’s four terminals through WHSmith and Relay stores and selected vending machines for £9.99 (US$13.99).
The pack highlights destinations such as Edinburgh, New York, Santiago and Mexico City, among others.
Each destination card features key travel statistics, including population, flight time, distance from Heathrow and the number of daily departures.
Cards feature aerial imagery of each destination to recreate the experience of arriving by plane from Heathrow.
A ‘visited’ tick box on every card also enables travellers to record the destinations they have explored.
New York has been named the game’s ‘Top Trump’, recognising its status as Heathrow’s most popular destination.
The pack’s cover features an image of Mount Fuji in Japan reflecting the diversity of destinations served from the UK hub.
The cards also draw attention to Heathrow’s global connectivity offering, including non-stop services to Santiago and Mexico City, destinations that are not served directly from any other UK airport.
The launch forms part of Heathrow’s wider 80th anniversary programme, celebrating eight decades of connecting the UK with the world. It also reinforces the airport’s long-term ambition to expand its network.
Heathrow Retail Director Fraser Brown commented: “Heathrow Top Trumps is a first for us, created exclusively for our passengers as we mark our 80th year. It’s a unique, nostalgic keepsake, an interesting way to explore some of our most popular destinations, and a fun way to pass the time – whether at the airport, on the plane or on holiday.”
Winning Moves UK Chief Executive and Marketing Officer Tom Liddell added: “Top Trumps has been a family favourite for almost 50 years. Those that grew up in the 1970s and 80s will remember there were several packs around planes and flight, so to make a customised pack to celebrate Heathrow’s 80th anniversary feels like we’re coming home.” ✈
Comment: This is a typically innovative consumer engagement initiative by Heathrow Airport but I am shocked and disappointed at the choice of Top Trumps as the campaign’s name, writes Martin Moodie.
While Trump is, of course, a common card game reference to a card that outranks all others during a hand (and Top Trumps is a popular card game), it is also the name of one of the two most divisive political figures on the planet. Yes, you guessed it, US President Donald Trump.
Although roughly half of American travellers through Heathrow may still approve of the name, the balance most certainly will not. And certainly the majority of international travellers will not.
That’s not just my opinion, it is supported by facts.
According to a Forbes report this week, just 23% of the 42,151 people surveyed by Pew Research Center across 36 countries say they have confidence in Trump, while 37% said they have an unfavourable view of the USA and 50% say the USA is not a reliable partner.
Let us not forget that the same American President has been in large part responsible for a Middle East war that has to date seen the deaths of thousands of civillians (including between 168 and 175 children and others from a strike on a girls’ primary school in Minab, Iran) and injuries to hundreds of thousands more.
“What we do know is this: the US military was responsible for killing over 150 people in an attack with precision-guided Tomahawk missiles on a school packed with children,” said Amnesty International USA’s National Director for Government Relations & Advocacy Amanda Klasing this week.
“Whether the Pentagon used artificial intelligence or not when targeting the school, it clearly did not take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimise civilian harm in its attack.”
All this human carnage is inextricably linked to the words and actions of a President who at one point issued an unprecedented threat to Iran, declaring that “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”.
That was an apocalyptic ultimatum to drive Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz – a waterway that had been completely open until his decision to attack Iran.
Let us not forget either that the same US President’s ill-judged decision to go to war against Iran has costs the aviation and travel retail sectors dearly (including, of course, Heathrow Airport).
So, sorry Heathrow Airport, you unveil so many brilliant initiatives but the naming of this card game is not one of them. I know this was not meant as a political statement but in my humble opinion you have come up anything but trumps.
