Ice-Watch has partnered Thomas Cook Airlines in a year-long high-impact marketing campaign featuring the watch brand on the body of a plane.
The wrapped plane, which highlighted the colourful range and the brand’s ‘Change. You can’ slogan, had its first flight on 7 July from Brussels to Rhodes.
The campaign aligns with another promotional initiative onboard Thomas Cook, which will see crew members wearing Ice-Watches from July 2013 also for a one-year period.
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The Thomas Cook wrapped plane highlights Ice-Watch’s colourful range and brand slogan |
The brand’s inflight push has seen over +60% growth in the channel in the course of one year. February’s Airline Retail Conference (ARC) Asia Pacific, where Ice-Watch was the main sponsor, added 19 new airlines to the brand’s network. It is now available on over 82 airlines, including LAN Airlines and Jet Airways.
“Our aim for the coming year is to follow our paths on the Asian and American markets which have already increased very well: the TFWA Asia Pacific last May gave us the opportunity [to have] 20 meetings with new duty free/inflight prospects in Asia Pacific, including China, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand,” the brand company said.
Ice-Watch is considering adding some new, bolder models to its inflight selection – references that are bestsellers in its retail network. These include Ice, Ice-Mini and the Travel Clock.
On the ground, the brand achieved 50 POS in 2012, after an encouraging start in 2011. Since the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes last October, new contracts have been signed as a result of the different trade exhibitions the brand had attended – these include Gebr. Heinemann, which has helped the brand establish itself on the duty free market since May 2012. The number of POS now totals 228.
To boost its travel retail exhibition presence, Ice-Watch will attend the TFWA World Exhibition this October. Besides ARC Asia Pacific 2013, the brand also attended the ARC 2013 event in Paris this month, as well as the IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas for the first time in April.
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A flurry of new store openings (such as the one at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2) have boosted Ice-Watch’s ground duty free presence |
As reported, Ice-Watch recently opened a store at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 and a POS at Barcelona El Prat Terminal 1. An important start for 2013 is a collaboration with Aelia, which saw the opening of 11 new shops.
New collaborations have also been struck with World Duty Free Group at Madrid-Barajas Airport and with The Nuance Group at Toulouse Airport and Burgas Airport. “[These collaborations] should lead to lots of new possibilities and again, a great expansion for the brand,” Ice-Watch said.
The cruise sector has also seen major growth – from 30 cruise ships in October 2012 to a presence on 115 cruise ships currently. New partnerships were formed with Pullmantor, MSC, Harding Brothers and Starboard.
“After an encouraging start in 2011, the number of POS (airlines, duty free shops and ships) as well as the amount of units sold quickly doubled in 2012. The last six months have also been very successful for the brand. The team welcomed clients all over the globe by attending many shows and the results are stunning: a rise of more than +50% on all travel retail marketing, lots of contracts under negotiation and new important contacts,” the company said in summary.
In the period January-May 2013, 63,000 pieces of Ice-Watch were sold – a growth of +68% over the same period in 2012, the brand added. Over 10 million watches have been sold in the space of six years, with 12,000 POS in 110 countries worldwide.
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