UK. Puig and Avolta celebrated the multi-axis Rabanne animation at Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony today (15 November). The animation was first revealed in July and marked the debut of ‘Rabanne’, the brand’s new name and visual identity.
As reported, the Rabanne rebrand is a milestone for the brand which sees the fashion and fragrance house entering a new chapter under one umbrella. This unified brand approach is fully expressed at the animation, which is the first in the world to offer Rabanne’s fragrance and accessories lines in the same space.
The 85sq m pop-up space – complete with an exhibition of The Maison’s archival dresses – is running until the end of December.
At the pop-up, travellers can discover Rabanne’s key fragrance lines such as Phantom Fame, Million, Invictus and Olympea are being showcased via an interactive fragrance bar.
Travellers who purchase a bottle of Phantom Parfum or Fame Parfum can take home their very own personalised Phantom/Fame keyring as a gift with purchase. They can also play the ‘Dance with a Phantom game’ and shop Rabanne’s popular 1969 bags and accessories.
The Rabanne takeover is being supported by a 360° digital campaign, launched in partnership with JCDecaux, which engages travellers at all touchpoints of their journey.
During the event, The Moodie Davitt Report caught with Puig Executive Vice President Global Travel Retail Kaatje Noens and Heathrow Airport Senior Account Manager Advertising and Media Rory Ford to discuss the Quaternity partnership that brought the multi-category Rabanne animation to life.
Notably, the pop-up is the third Rabanne animation to run at the T2 media site following Phantom and Fame animations in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Talking about Puig and Rabanne’s special relationship with Heathrow, and T2 specifically, Noens said: “This animation came organically. At Puig, we have a long-term view when working with partners. This partnership with Heathrow began in 2021 when we ran the exclusive pre-launch of Phantom in travel retail and expressed it in this very same media site. This turned out to be one of our most successful campaigns to date.
“Because of our past successes at T2, we wanted the first full expression of the Rabanne rebrand to be in this media site as well.”
Ford added: “Rabanne was keen, amid a very difficult period for us during COVID, to do something special at T2. They saw how important T2 was to our recovery and they weren’t wrong as it’s the second biggest terminal we have in terms of passenger volumes.
“Last month’s passenger figures have just been released and we’re back to being the fourth biggest airport in the world in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest airport in Europe. We’ll have served approximately 79 million passengers this year and so we’re on track to be at pre-COVID levels by 2024.”
For Puig, travel retail is core to its long-term business model. Noens said: “We see airports as ‘windows to the world’ and as places where we can engage meaningfully with our customers. We believe that we can bring a lot of fun and engagement to our retail and airport partners. I think Rabanne achieved that so well with the pre-launch of Phantom and we repeated that success with the pre-launch of Fame last year and now this multi-category pop-up which really shows how the brand has evolved and grown.
“For this animation, our goal is to deliver a USP to customers in a way that elevates their time at the airport and we came up with the idea of bringing Rabanne’s it bags and accessories into the animation for the first time ever.”
Between now and the end of December, Puig is showcasing the it bags and accessories to travellers at Heathrow across four dedicated weekends.
Noens said: “It’s not just about what these items will bring to sales but how they will enhance the customer experience. Travellers, who may not have been a Rabanne customer before, may be intrigued by the accessories and fashion items, enter the animation space and then ultimately be converted into becoming a Rabanne customer. Of course, there is the tangible sales element, but there is also the intangible aspects of recruitment and brand elevation. The learnings are going to be extremely interesting and I’m sure we’re sitting on a successful formula that can really expand the footprint and elevate the brand perception of Rabanne.”
Heathrow is the only airport in the world to embrace the term ‘Quaternity’ when describing partnerships. In addition to the Trinity of airports, brands and retailers, the term Quaternity places equal importance on the role played by media.
Ford explained: “Quaternity is a phrase that we’ve coined at Heathrow to give equal mention to the four key players that bring activations such as these to life. More and more, we are deepening partnerships with brands to see how we can bring their ideas to life at the airport.
“What we’ve really heard from brands is that they want that omnichannel experience that only JCDecaux can deliver. In T2, they can really make use of the entire JCDecaux estate. We have 1,600 media sites in Heathrow with JCDecaux so from the point that passengers step off the Heathrow Express or get out of their taxi, they are met by our advertising sites. This really builds that sense of experience until they see the Rabanne activation.
“This is the first time that we’ve done a Quaternity partnership that is a fragrance and fashion hybrid and we’re very excited for the results,” Ford added.
Will this multi-category approach play a bigger role for other brands in the Puig portfolio and for future activations at Heathrow? Noens said: “No matter the brand, our approach is always to view airports as a premium shopping destinations. In the past, airports were considered a convenience channel – but we view them as retail destinations where travellers can find something different.
“Our strength is that we can achieve this across categories as we have shown today. I’m always willing to try out new things to boost conversion and drive sales and having that USP for brands is the future of travel retail.”
Ford added: “I think Rabanne is leading the way in terms of cross-category activations like this. To play such a big part during the Rabanne rebrand is such an honour – and we’re delighted that they’ve used Heathrow as a launchpad for that.”
One of the biggest issues facing the travel retail sector is that while passenger numbers are certainly returning, particularly in Europe and the Americas, conversion is slower to rebound.
Noens said: “There is definitely a slowdown in conversion. However, depending on your portfolio, you can look at different demographics and customers that you can convert higher. It’s about engagement and differentiation. Today, thanks to the buzz around the brand, Rabanne is attracting a lot of Millennial and Gen Z shoppers. Penhaligon’s has a lot of buzz, even with a limited distribution, because we are creating out-of-the-box experiences in travel retail and offer plenty of exclusivity. This is what differentiates the travel retail shopping experience from the domestic market.”
Offering the Heathrow perspective, which in recent years has been lobbying against the UK government’s decision to abolish tax-free shopping, Ford said: “Conversion really is category dependent. Also, the tourist tax at Heathrow is really impacting conversion as well. Our message to the UK government has been consistent throughout this and that they should do a full cost-benefit analysis of the direct and indirect costs of their tax free policy.
“Despite this, we still have an incredibly strong retail offer at Heathrow with over 100 fashion units and over 10,000sqm of space. Demand isn’t the issue, but the sales aren’t what they were in 2019 because of this government policy.”
Another development in the beauty space is the rebound of colour cosmetics, which is reflected by Puig’s investment in expanding the portfolios of its brands to also include makeup.
“Colour cosmetics is gearing up for a powerful comeback,” Noens explained. “At Puig, we position ourselves differently. For example, Carolina Herrera makeup is more like an accessory for your handbag and Rabanne makeup is so in touch with the contemporary need of younger consumers to be bold and different. There is nothing in the market quite like it. Ultimately, the key to success is to dare to think differently in terms of offer and marketing. We have always embraced that approach with fragrances and we’re adopting the same approach for makeup too.”
This approach is best expressed in the multi-axis Rabanne animation which fully capitalises on the cross-category power of the brand. As space in travel retail is often limited, Ford believes that pop-ups such as this can be a way forward for brands who want to express themselves more richly in the airport environment. “The massive challenge we have is space and so we must work with what we have,” he explained. “Pop-ups are a great opportunity for brands to express themselves fully at Heathrow because they have a blank canvas. That’s where the Quaternity comes in to help brands bring these ideas to life – even on a temporary basis.
“This plays a key part in our DESO strategy (Digital, Experience, Space and Offer). One of our goals is to utilise these pop-up spaces to keep the terminals fresh and keep passengers coming back to Heathrow and engaging with our retail offer.”
Commenting on the Quaternity partnership between Puig, Heathrow, Avolta and JCDecaux, Noens concluded by saying: “Our Quaternity partners saw how we never walked away from travel retail. We stood strong by our partners throughout the crisis. Now we’re back, we are taking things to the next level but we can’t do it on our own. We need the airport and retailer to challenge us to explore new opportunities and think outside of the box. The transparency of that partnership makes us look at business and the shopper experience differently, enabling us to position the airport as an ideal shopping destination. This will only work if the everyone plays their part.” 
