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British American Tobacco’s new Premium Smoking Lounge at Osaka Kansai Airport |
JAPAN. British American Tobacco (BAT) is celebrating the success of its latest premium smoking lounge implementation at Osaka Kansai Airport in Japan. The initiative has generated extensive positive feedback both from members of the public and the Kansai Airport Authority, the company claimed.
The BAT team in Japan partnered with the Airport Authority to transform a basic smoking room into a premium smoking lounge, complete with consumer engagement opportunities designed to rejuvenate the Kent brand’s equity.
Following thorough studies on the air flow, ventilation and installation of current smoking lounges, BAT identified problem areas and corrected the physical environment with the following improvements at Kansai Airport:
Re-designed the ambiance of the lounge to change its “˜look and feel’ to one of a premium boutique.
Installed a first-class ventilation system which constantly replaces foul-smelling air with fresh air.
Re-routed the air conditioning ducts and changed the location of filters to improve the feeding in of fresh air and facilitate the extraction of smoke
Changed the “push out” door to a sliding door with touch pads to reduce the smoke escaping from the room into the airport.
Introduced easily maintained modern acrylic or metal finish furniture and auto-extinguishing ash trays
Introduced a strict maintenance schedule to ensure the room is clean
Reinforced its strong commitment to youth smoking prevention, installing a sign prohibiting access to the room for anyone under 18.
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The World’s first 3D Nanotek Interactive Kiosk |
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Kent’s Brand Ambassador engages with smokers in the new Premium Smoking Lounge |
First Class Experience
To help give smokers’ peace of mind that they won’t miss their flight, the make-over included a flight information panel. In addition, British American Tobacco negotiated with the Kansai Airport Authority to relocate the lounge to a more central location which greatly enhanced the convenience factor for patrons.
To provide a degree of entertainment, the team also installed a free-standing promotional unit which smokers could use to browse and visualise different features of Kent’s Nanotek cigarette while they are in the smoking lounge.
Kent brand ambassadors also invited travellers to sample the new Kent Nanotek with an elegantly designed hand-held tray featuring a product display via a 7-inch LCD screen is used to communicate Kent’s product stories to the smokers.
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Modern acrylic and metal finish furniture in the new Premium Smoking Lounge |
According to BAT the new Kent Kansai Smoking Room has been well received. The Kansai Airport Authority has expressed its appreciation to the team for freshening up the smoking facilities at the airport.
“The new Kent Kansai Smoking Room has heightened patrons’ expectations on smoking facilities at the airport,” said Kansai Airport Authority Terminal Sales & Marketing Department Deputy General Manager Hiroki Kitabayashi.
In a survey undertaken by BAT, 100% of the respondents indicated they “˜like’ or “˜like a lot’ the premium smoking lounge experience. The improved ambience has successfully attracted smokers and 87% of the respondents indicated they are more likely to switch from a competitor brand to Kent after visiting the lounge.
Eighty per cent of the respondents liked the interior design and 37% of them appreciated the installation of the flight panel. A quarter of respondents found the air quality had improved.
Thirty-two percent appreciated the brand ambassador engagement and 31% enjoyed the cigarette sampling activity.
With the activation and sampling campaign, the market share of Kent Nanotek at Kansai Airport has grown significantly, BAT said.
“One of the key [challenges] is how to position the initiative,” noted Kent Brand Manager Kenneth Cheng. “Instead of telling our partners ‘we are here to decorate your room’, we positioned the initiative as [a way] to build sustainable interest among stakeholders. Such positioning has brought us a smooth collaboration among different parties.”
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A diagram featuring a traditional smoking room and the new Premium Smoking Lounge |
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