UK. JCDecaux today hosted ‘The Business of Brand Building’ session at Landing Forty Two in London’s Leadenhall Building, launching Flightpath – an advertising campaign solution designed around the complete passenger journey.
As reported earlier today, the event followed the announcement that JCDecaux has secured an eight-year extension to its long-standing advertising concession at Heathrow Airport.
The breakfast briefing also highlighted a milestone for Heathrow Airport, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.
The morning saw presentations from Heathrow Airport Retail Director Fraser Brown, Havas Group Managing Partner – LVMH UK Lead Karina Manolis, Lumen Research CEO Mike Follett, JCDecaux Head of Product & Partner Marketing Elena Karoussis and JCDecaux Commercial & Partnerships Director Richard Simkins.
Opening the event, JCDecaux UK Co-CEO Chris Collins said, “We’re operating against a backdrop of significant growth and investment. Airports are expanding, airlines are adding capacity and opening new routes, while Heathrow and Edinburgh continue investing heavily in infrastructure and customer experience.
“Today’s announcement that JCDecaux has extended its partnership with Heathrow for another eight years is fantastic news. We would like to thank Heathrow for placing its trust in us and recognise the hard work and dedication of our teams in making this possible.”
Building a true global gateway
The keynote presentation came from Brown, who outlined why Heathrow Airport remains one of the world’s most compelling environments for premium brands.
He said, “There is no airport in the world quite like Heathrow. More than 28% of our passengers fly in premium cabins – first, business or premium economy – compared with a global average of around 10-12%. That tells you everything about the quality of audience brands can reach here.
“You can fly directly from Heathrow to markets representing 92% of the world’s GDP. That’s why global luxury brands invest so heavily in both retail and advertising here. They are reaching one of the world’s most valuable travelling audiences.”
Longer international journeys are also creating new opportunities for retailers and advertisers, Brown noted.
“Since the pandemic we’ve seen more long-haul flying, more premium seating and longer dwell times throughout the airport journey. That gives brands even greater opportunities to engage with travellers.”
Brown also placed Heathrow’s performance within the wider context of London’s aviation market.
“London is the biggest aviation city in the world. Together, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, City, Luton and Southend handle close to 200 million passengers annually. Aviation remains one of Britain’s great trading gateways.”
Brown stressed that the airport’s immediate priority remains improving today’s passenger experience.
“Every week millions of passengers travel through Heathrow, so we’re investing more than £1 billion every year to improve the experience while preparing for future growth.”
Among the recent improvements, Brown highlighted new security technology designed to make journeys smoother.
“Passengers are already seeing the benefits of next-generation security, where laptops and liquids can remain in bags. That means they move through security faster, they arrive in the departure lounge with more time, and most importantly, they are in a better mood. That is good for passengers, retailers and brands alike.”
Looking ahead, Brown noted: “We believe Heathrow can grow from today’s 84.5 million passengers to around 95 million through additional terminal capacity.
“Beyond that, expansion would take us towards 140 million passengers, opening around 30 additional destinations, particularly in high-growth markets.”
From visibility to measurable brand impact
Offering an advertiser’s perspective, Manolis said airports remain one of luxury’s most effective physical environments despite broader economic uncertainty.
“Airport travellers arrive in an exceptionally positive mindset. Excitement, anticipation and curiosity define the journey, making airports an incredibly powerful environment for luxury brands.”
She added that many purchasing decisions remain spontaneous.
“Around 65% of travellers don’t plan what they will buy before arriving at the airport, while airport advertising consistently creates positive brand perceptions and influences purchasing decisions.”
Follett argued that attention should be viewed as a commercial metric rather than simply a media one.
“Attention isn’t the objective – it’s the route to profitable growth. Across thousands of campaigns we’ve consistently found that greater attention predicts stronger memory, greater purchase intent and ultimately better commercial outcomes.”
Karoussis introduced eye-tracking research using Tobii – an eye-tracking specialist that measures visual attention in real time – focused specifically on airport environments.
The study examined how passengers interacted with digital advertising throughout the airport journey.
“Rather than concentrating advertising in a single area, our research shows brands achieve stronger recall by appearing throughout the passenger journey. The airport works as one connected attention environment.”
Karoussis said the research also found passengers devoted around one tenth of their active walking time in terminals to viewing airport advertising displays.
“When people are moving through the terminal and actively looking for information, their eyes are naturally drawn to airport media, making it a genuinely high-attention environment.”
JCDecaux launches Flightpath
Simkins introduced attendees to Flightpath, a new planning solution designed to simplify airport advertising campaigns.
Instead of selecting individual screens or specific locations, advertisers can plan campaigns around guaranteed impressions delivered across the entire departure journey.
“Flightpath makes it easier for brands to access the full passenger journey through one campaign, optimised around impressions rather than individual screen locations.
“We are not asking brands to spend more. We are simply distributing investment more effectively across the airport journey to maximise attention, recall and campaign effectiveness.”
Simkins added: “‘The Business of Brand Building: 80 Years of Aviation’ briefing explored how airport environments continue to evolve as a powerful real-world platform for advertisers and brands.
“Attention has become one of the most valuable currencies in advertising, and our latest research demonstrates that airports consistently deliver it throughout the passenger journey.
“Flightpath translates those insights into a simpler, smarter way to buy airport media. It combines proven attention with straightforward planning, helping advertisers build campaigns that maximise effectiveness from departure to boarding while still guaranteeing impressions.
“The launch of Flightpath demonstrates how airport media continues to evolve, enhancing the passenger experience while creating important opportunities for brands.” ✈
