Bacardi has launched a multi-media shopper experience at
London Heathrow Terminal 5 with Bombay Sapphire, the world’s number one premium
gin by value and the fastest-growing premium gin in the world.
Running throughout September, the campaign seeks to epitomise
the heritage of Bombay Sapphire, introducing shoppers to its brand home at The
Laverstoke Distillery in the UK county of Hampshire, as well as providing the opportunity to
enjoy the distinctive taste profile of Bombay Sapphire and Star of Bombay, with hand-crafted cocktail serves.
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| A customer wearing a virtual reality headset at Bombay Sapphire's Heathrow multi-media experience |
In the main terminal concourse area, Bombay Sapphire
takes over The Connect Experience, Terminal 5’s exclusive experiential space,
operated by JCDecaux Airport, with a stunning 360-degree virtual reality
recreation of the Bombay Distillery at Laverstoke, Hampshire. The distillery is
represented with a central glass installation, inspired by the original Thomas
Heatherwick-designed glasshouses at the distillery.
Laverstoke’s elegant botanical glasshouses were designed
by Heatherwick to house the botanical plants in their natural form with a
passion for sustainable production that encourages future growth of the raw
ingredients. The award-winning visitor centre brings to life all aspects of the
character and unique story of the brand and visitors are invited to discover
the same botanicals that Master of Botanicals Ivanno Tonutti hand-selects for
every batch.
The airport experience comes to life through the latest Oculus
Rift technology transporting shoppers for a 90-second journey to the heart of
Laverstoke with a personal drone footage fly-through tour of the distillery and
a detailed look at the vapour-infusion single-fold distillation process that
gives Bombay Sapphire its London Dry flavour profile.
Following the experience, retail ambassadors are on hand
to offer hand-crafted tasting experiences with a choice of serves: The
Laverstoke cocktail, first created by Senior Ambassador Sam Carter for the
opening of the distillery in 2014, featuring a blend of Bombay Sapphire, Martini
Bianco, St-Germain elderflower liqueur, fresh lime and ginger. In addition,
there is a hand-crafted 50:50 Bombay Star and tonic finished with orange zest
to showcase the smoothness of the latest gin in the family – a brand variant
recently awarded the London Dry Gin Trophy 2016 and a Gold Outstanding medal
2016 by International Wine & Spirits Challenge (IWSC).
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| Bombay Sapphire's stunning virtual reality campaign at Heathrow Terminal 5 |
Gin's "amazing renaissance"
Visitors to the Terminal 5 virtual Laverstoke experience
are invited to purchase Bombay Sapphire from the World Duty Free store and
receive a 20% discount voucher to the Laverstoke Distillery. In-store, the brand enjoys a strong visual
presence both in the gin category, with a multi-media branded wall bay, and at
the temporary bar where shoppers can sample and discover “Your Perfect Gin and
Tonic”, with each of the Bombay variants presented in its own expression of a
gin and tonic serve.
Mike Birch, Managing Director, Bacardi Global Travel
Retail, said: “Gin is enjoying an amazing renaissance today and we are
proud of how Bombay Sapphire, as category leader, is playing its part in
creating sustained growth in travel retail. This activation has been designed
in close collaboration with the creative vision of the Bombay Sapphire global
brand team and the deep knowledge in our travel retail team of how to deliver
significant sales uplift in airports with an unforgettable shopper experience,
complete with our passion for ensuring consumers have the opportunity to taste
our brands.”
John Grieveson, Global Director of Bombay Sapphire,
explained the appeal of Heathrow Terminal 5 for brand-building: “Bombay
Sapphire has always held a desire to create moments of beauty, as witnessed in
the selection of 10 botanicals from intriguing locations across the globe, the
elegant vapour infusion process, its iconic blue bottle and glassware and, of
course, the beautiful Laverstoke Distillery, where we produce every drop of Bombay
gin consumed around the world.
“This amazing experience at Terminal 5 is designed to
bring to life these core components of heritage, creativity and innovation in a
powerfully engaging story-telling experience that will have passengers setting
off for all corners of the world carrying with them a flavour and memory of a
stunning Bombay Sapphire experience.”
Some 1.5m passengers will pass the space this month
Alan Sullivan, Managing Director, JCDecaux Airport UK,
said: “Premium spirits brands running campaigns like this in the airport are
perfect examples of contextual advertising. Terminal 5 is a dynamic space and
we expect over 1.5m passengers to pass within close proximity to this
experiential space this month that, we know from our own research, enjoys a 98%
chance of interaction.
“The location of our advertising opportunities in such
close proximity to World Duty Free allows Heathrow’s discerning passengers to
sample the brand in a mindset predisposed to treat themselves. With a 51% AB
profile, airports are unique in delivering that highly-sought-after, affluent
audience who have a real appetite for premium products, such as Bombay Sapphire.”
