Bacardi Wows MIA travelers with fun-filled Dewar’s Whisky Emporium

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Bacardi Global Travel Retail is wowing passengers at Miami International Airport with a creative eye-catching month-long John Dewar & Sons Fine Scotch Whisky Emporium. The activation is designed to engage consumers traveling through the United States’ gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean, whether or not they can buy in the duty free store.

Dewars-Mia-3-centrIMG_3128-SMALL The 10 ft by 10 ft space features a tasting bar, whisky pong, whisky vaporizers, and temporary tattoos, and is the largest activation Bacardi has developed for Dewar’s in Americas travel retail.

Rosie Hathorn, Senior Customer Marketing Manager Americas, Bacardi Global Travel Retail, tells TMI the goal of the activation is to introduce consumers to the brand by engaging them at all the different touch points in the activation, not just through sampling.

“We engage with them with whisky pong. We have a temporary tattoo parlour with a fun-filled state-of-the-art photo booth. For people who don’t wish to sample we have the vaporizing unit where they press a button and the aroma of the whisky is emitted. The main objective is for shoppers not just to engage with the brand, but to learn how to love the brand,” she says.

Dewars-Mia-vaporIMG_3155-small “The structure is built to tell the story. Each of the malt gondolas has pipes connecting to a center unit. The story is our Double Aging– we age, we blend and then we age again. All of our malts and blends have an age statement on them. We want to drive home the message of Double Aged for Smoothness.”

Once travelers are attracted to the Dewar’s Fine Scotch Whisky Emporium space, they are spending an average of ten to fifteen minutes engaging with the brand, she says.

Travelers are able to try six different variants: Dewar’s 12 YO, Dewar’s 15 YO, Dewar’s 18 YO, Aberfeldy 12 YO, Aultmore 12 YO, and Craigelachie 13 YO.

 

A key aspect of the MIA activation is that sampling is available to both international and domestic passengers, even though.

“We have three promoters working the space at all times. When a consumer is interested in purchasing a promoter walks them to the Duty Free Americas store. The same six variants are also being sampled inside the nearby DFA stores.”

Geoff Biggs, Regional Director Americas, Bacardi Global Travel Retail explains how the campaign epitomizes the company’s whisky strategy across the Americas: “Bacardi is firmly committed to offering whisky consumers the quality and refinement that comes with age, with a diverse portfolio of 100% aged stock across all single malts and Dewar’s blends.

“As consumers in many Latin American and Caribbean markets become more knowledgeable in their whisky choices, they are increasingly opting for the intrinsic benefits of age, resulting in unprecedented double-digit growth for Dewar’s – led by Dewar’s 15 Years Old – and significant increase in demand for our single malts, where we now offer a portfolio of five single malt brands.

“Here at Miami International Airport, we are keen to build on that regional success and leverage the incremental impact of an amazing shopper engagement campaign, led by high quality advocacy and with creative touches bringing the Dewar’s personality to life in new, unusual and memorable ways. Our partnership with Duty Free Americas is rooted in a shared commitment to bringing excitement and innovation to the whisky category. We are convinced that the most powerful purchase motivator is the discovery of something new combined with the confidence of great quality.”

Dewars-Mia-bartender-smallIMG_5381 Jonathan Bonchick, VP / Buying and Merchandising, Duty Free Americas Inc adds: “We are always excited by opportunities to innovate the retail experience for DFA customers and this Dewar’s campaign ticks all the boxes. It is immensely creative in bringing something genuinely new to how shoppers explore the whisky category and is delivering very positive results in foot traffic and sales uplifts.”

The Dewar’s Fine Scotch Whisky Emporium is running from June 15-July 12 near Gate D 37. It was developed for Miami by Bacardi Global Travel Retail and JCDecaux, designed by UK-based agency GLOCK and built by Bloommiami.