AMERICAS. King of Reach By B&S partnered with Mark Anthony Brands (MAB) and Avolta to deliver a series of high-impact brand activations across Americas travel retail in 2024. The programme will continue into 2025, focusing on key travel retail locations to spotlight spirits brands White Claw Vodka, Glendalough and Bearface.
The Americas was identified as a strategic regional growth opportunity for King of Reach By B&S and MAB, leveraging the strong consumer appeal of White Claw Seltzer.
King of Reach By B&S Head of Americas Duty Free & Travel Retail Tijn Oomens commented: “The locations selected for our 2024 activations are based on a variety of factors determined by our stakeholders, Avolta and Mark Anthony Brands. Avolta provided a comprehensive overview of available locations, detailing the types of activations planned throughout 2024.
“Following discussions with Mark Anthony Brands and the brand managers for Glendalough, Bearface and White Claw, we identified key venues that align with the overall roll-out strategy, including the domestic market plan.”
For example, for brands such as Glendalough with its deep connection to Irish travellers, activations prioritised locations with high volumes of Irish passenger traffic.
Oomens added: “In the Americas, we carefully considered the most effective activation methods, such as advertising, high-profile placements (HPP) and tastings designed to introduce the products directly to consumers.”
The promotional programme for White Claw Vodka began with a dedicated MAB training session at São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport in August. The session, designed to strengthen brand knowledge and sales engagement, involved 45 participants split across two groups. This initiative aimed to enhance the technical skills of sales staff, enabling them to better communicate the brand offer to consumers.
Further training sessions are scheduled for December and will continue throughout 2025 at additional locations.
A series of White Claw Vodka activations were rolled out at Newark Liberty and Chicago O’Hare airports in September, before moving to Cancun International Airport in October and Santo Domingo Las Américas International Airport in November, all in partnership with Avolta.
Oomens added: “Together with Mark Anthony Brands, we’ve embarked on an incredible journey to officially launch the MAB portfolio of White Claw, Glendalough and Bearface in the Americas, kicking off with key travel retail locations.
“It all began with the DFS White Claw activation at JFK Airport in August, and since then, we’ve continued to build momentum, securing multiple listings with nearly all key airport retailers across the USA.
“In addition, over the past 18 months, we’ve successfully introduced White Claw Vodka across various channels throughout the Americas and will continue to expand our presence in travel retail.”
MAB Market Director Spirits Ronan O’Neill added: “We targeted locations based on key factors, including PAX numbers, age profile and nationality. We also looked at category data to identify the top-performing locations for vodka and cross referenced them with our domestic activities,” he explained.
“It’s been an amazing journey with B&S to date, we set out to bring White Claw Vodka to the travel retail channel in 2023 and build the brand from the bottom up, which we have done with great success.
“We are now available in key airport locations throughout the Americas working with industry-leading retailers. We have great sales momentum and look forward to continuing to build on this.”
Looking ahead to 2025, the activation programme will feature tasting bars, walkthrough stores and HPPs in key cities, including Chicago, Boston, Cancun and Las Vegas.
A standout activation for White Claw will take place during the Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix in November. The event is positioned as a prime opportunity to engage travellers and raise brand awareness on a large scale, Oomens said. ✈
