Opinion: Shiseido’s Fran Law on how star power can drive culture and commerce in travel retail

Introduction: Celebrity partnerships have become an increasingly powerful tool for beauty brands seeking to connect with younger consumers – but star power alone is no guarantee of commercial impact.

In this guest column, Shiseido Travel Retail Vice President Commercial and Business Development, Travel Retail Asia Pacific Fran Law explores how the beauty group is translating cultural relevance into meaningful consumer engagement through SHISEIDO ULTIMUNE collaborations with Global Ambassador LISA and Japanese graphic artist VERDY.

She examines the importance of authentic brand alignment, the growing convergence of domestic and travel retail, and the airport’s role in turning awareness into experience and, ultimately, conversion.

Drawing on insights from SHISEIDO activations across Asia Pacific, Law also highlights how personalisation, exclusivity and collectability can help transform cultural influence into sustained brand and commercial value.

In beauty, star power is often measured by the recognisable face or name a brand can attract. Yet recognition alone does not create relevance, and relevance on its own does not create commercial impact.

For younger consumers, celebrity and cultural influence increasingly shape brand discovery and purchase decisions. One in four Gen Z consumers say celebrity endorsements affect what they buy, more than double the proportion among older consumers (source: YouGov).

For travel retail, this matters because it sits at the point where discovery can become action. Our opportunity is to turn attention into a more meaningful connection with the brand.

That thinking has shaped Shiseido Travel Retail’s work on ULTIMUNE with Global Ambassador LISA, rapper and singer with South Korean girl group BLACKPINK, and Japanese graphic artist VERDY. Their expressions are different, but both demonstrate how cultural relevance creates greater value when it is rooted in brand meaning and carried with purpose through the consumer journey.

More than a familiar face

The most effective cultural partnerships are built on a credible fit between the collaborator and the brand.

LISA’s confidence and continuous evolution as an artist echo SHISEIDO’s values and align with ULTIMUNE’s ‘Freedom from Age’ philosophy, which focuses on strengthening and supporting the skin over time. The singer’s own view of beauty as a journey of growth and of becoming the best version of oneself gives the relationship an authenticity that cannot be manufactured.

VERDY brings a different perspective. His work moves across art, fashion and contemporary street culture, giving SHISEIDO a fresh creative expression. His ‘Rise Above’ ethos speaks to the inner strength at the heart of ULTIMUNE.

VICK, VERDY’s iconic panda-rabbit character, brings a more playful dimension to SHISEIDO’s longstanding relationship between art and science.

The value of these partnerships lies not in repeating the same message, but in expressing the same brand values in ways that feel natural to two distinct communities. LISA brings global scale and emotional affinity with her audience; VERDY brings cultural relevance through art, fashion and street culture. Together, they broaden the reach of a single, consistent idea.

For Gen Zs, who encounter celebrity and influencer content constantly, that credibility is essential. A familiar name may prompt an initial interaction, but the partnership must give consumers a clearer understanding of what the brand stands for, and the campaign must carry that understanding forward as consumers move between channels and retail environments.

One campaign, many encounters

Consumers move fluidly between digital, domestic and travel retail. They may first see a campaign on social media, encounter it again in a downtown mall, and then come across it at the airport. For travellers, these are not isolated moments. Together, they shape one cumulative impression of the brand.

For Shiseido Group, this creates an opportunity to build greater synergy between domestic and travel retail. Bangkok offered a clear example. Throughout July, SHISEIDO aligned ULTIMUNE activities across domestic and travel retail.

As part of SHISEIDO’s ULTIMUNE x LISA global campaign, the domestic team held a large-scale PR and activation with LISA at CentralWorld to support Out of Home visibility across the city and build awareness.

Travel retail then carried that momentum into Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and King Power One Bangkok through the campaign platform, with an Alipay Out of Home takeover adding further visibility at Suvarnabhumi.

Our aim was to create a connected journey through Bangkok, one in which each encounter reinforced the last. Travel retail has a particular role within that journey.

By the time travellers reach the airport, they may already have seen the campaign online or in the city. The airport is therefore where awareness can become a more active and personal brand experience.

Where travel retail adds value

For Shiseido Travel Retail, that experience is shaped by Omotenashi, the Japanese spirit of thoughtful hospitality. It informs every consumer encounter, from the service we provide to the experiences and product propositions we develop for travellers.

Travellers may be time-pressed, but they also arrive with an openness to discover, which is part of the journey itself. Our role is to make a campaign meaningful in that context, not simply to extend it into the airport.

At Suvarnabhumi, the ULTIMUNE x LISA outpost featured an interactive photo booth where travellers could create a personalised photo-strip keepsake of their ULTIMUNE moment, with no purchase required. A similar LISA photo booth at Hong Kong International Airport attracted significant footfall, contributing to a positive sales increase in the region.

The momentum continued at our Singapore Changi Airport activation, which drove strong Gen Z engagement and supported conversion, with 20% of photo booth users going on to make a qualifying purchase to receive a LISA collectable gift-with-purchase.

The link between experience and commerce is increasingly clear. Among Gen Z travellers, 43% identify enriching in-store experiences as a leading reason to buy duty free, on par with the value they place on price, quality and brand trust.

Collectability and exclusivity add further reasons to choose the channel. In Thailand, the VERDY x SHISEIDO collaboration offered limited-time gifts, including a hairpin set and VICK vinyl pouch, with qualifying ULTIMUNE purchases. From September, the collaboration expands across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Korea.

Travel retail-exclusive (TREX) sets such as the ULTIMUNE Jumbo, Duo and Ritual Sets in Thailand respond to the travel shopping mission with added convenience and value.

At Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the ULTIMUNE x LISA outpost brings together collectable gifts and a TREX skincare set, featuring a design localised for Taiwan travellers.

Each of these elements serves a different function but answers the same question: what can travel retail offer that consumers cannot access elsewhere?

Turning attention into lasting value

Star power can create attention, but its commercial value depends on what happens next.

The strongest partnerships begin with an authentic connection between the talent, the brand and its values. Their impact is determined by how effectively that connection carries through the consumer journey, and by whether it gives people a genuine reason to engage with the brand.

There is already encouraging evidence of what this approach can deliver. Since March, the ULTIMUNE x LISA concept has been brought to life through seven activations across five global travel retail markets. Across those markets, the ULTIMUNE franchise has recorded double-digit year-to-date growth (excluding Mainland China).

The partnership itself is only the beginning. The true measure of star power is not how visible it becomes, but whether it can deepen a consumer’s connection with the brand and translate cultural relevance into sustained commercial momentum. ✈