UK. French luxury house Chanel has partnered with Dufry, Heathrow Airport and ooh media specialists JCDecaux to unveil the spectacular Chanel N°5 Spaceship activation in the Departures Lounge of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.
The interactive, immersive and engaging pop-up was launched to welcome the festive season and celebrate the landmark 100th anniversary of the Chanel N°5 fragrance.
The Moodie Davitt Report Brands Editor & Digital Marketing Manager Hannah Tan-Gillies was on location as the exclusive media for the official opening ceremony, which was also attended by executives from Chanel, Heathrow, Dufry, World Duty Free (the Heathrow brand for Dufry) and JCDecaux.
Located in a high-profile, high-traffic location in the Departures Lounge, The Chanel N°5 spaceship experience begins with a ‘Find N°5’ Game which invites travellers to explore the pop-up space and find all the hidden N°5 stickers.
Shoppers receive a special Chanel boarding card to write down their guesses. Afterwards, they can choose from a trunk of golden envelopes to win various prizes from Chanel.
The activation offers Chanel’s extensive fragrance line, including all expressions of the N°5 scent, alongside a curated selection of skincare and makeup products.
It is the only travel retail point of sale to offer the limited-edition Chanel Advent Calendar which sold out in 15 minutes after launching in the UK domestic market.
The activation features plentiful beauty tech innovation and an augmented reality-powered digital screen that virtually applies a Chanel makeup look while transporting shoppers into space.
It is also the first travel retail location to debut Chanel’s integrated digital tool for beauty advisors.
Commenting on the quaternity partnership that created the launch, Heathrow Airport Retail & Property Director Fraser Brown said: “This is not a Trinity project, it’s a Quaternity. Heathrow as the airport, Chanel as the brand, Dufry as the retailer and the fourth part, which is often overlooked, is the ooh media operator, JCDecaux. We have four companies coming together to produce what I think is a fabulous activation.
“For us at Heathrow it’s a great advert for travel retail. After all the tough times we’ve been through as an industry, this is a real tangible example of a vote of confidence that brands like Chanel have for Heathrow. As we stand here today, it’s busy and bustling, we’re growing.”
For one day only, the Heathrow Personal Shopper Lounge was transformed into a vision of pearls, Camelias and Chanel N°5, where guests discovered the history and heritage of the popular fragrance.
The fragrance, described as ‘a mesmerising piece of liquid art’, was developed by Coco Chanel in 1921 and has remained a true icon over the years.
The Chanel N°5 spaceship animation is supported by eye-catching digital displays located all over Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. This begins with large scale towers in the Terminal 5 Departures Hall and continues all the way to smaller digital screens with a call-to-action leading travellers to the pop-up.
“Anything that can help consumers is a good thing,” Brown added. “How Chanel is providing virtual reality elements, very well-versed beauty advisors backed by technology to help our passengers is great. At Heathrow, we’re all about delivering the best airport service in the world and this is an example of a great way to deliver that in a retail sense.”
Dufry Group Country Retail Director Peter Cunningham added: “It’s a very important message to show that travel and airport retail is back with a bang. To have such an iconic brand showcased in this way, in partnership with Heathrow, JCDecaux, Dufry and Chanel, is a fantastic showcase and it really shows that we are getting back to the business we used to have pre-COVID.”
