WHITE SPIRITS: GIN


“I think what is so exciting about gin for travel retail is that consumers respond very positively to the huge variety and styles in a similar way they respond to Scotch and single malt, so the wide array is a blessing not a curse for retailers and consumers.” Having launched its full range


of products last year, it introduced in June its first DF&TR activation at Rome Airport Terminal 1 with Lagardère Travel Retail. Travellers were invited to purchase


one-litre bottles of Con Limone in a special promotion that also featured the APE Malfy truck situated at Terminal 4 for a limited period through July. Halewood Wines and Spirits’


Managing Director Global Travel Retail Simon Roffe admits that the explosion in flavoured gins is an obvious trend. “The launch of true, full


strength flavoured gin has been transformational to the category,” he tells TRBusiness. “Since launching our own Whitley Neill flavoured gins in 2017, the flavoured variants have literally taken off.” However, Roffe says the flavoured


craze should not be confused with the rise in appeal for pink gins – another notable trend. “The pink gin phenomenon


mirrors what happened in Spain in recent years and really we are only seeing this done as brand extensions


Bombay Sapphire continues to lead the DF&TR gin category.


by major gin brands,” he observes. “There is definitely developments


that see full-strength, flavoured gins still offering unique possibilities and trade-up opportunity that is not to be confused by colour variants of major global brands or indeed by retailers missing the trick by engaging with gin-based liqueurs (at lower in-store prices).” Halewood has moved to establish


a platform for its gin brands in DF&TR in the past year, launching Whitley Neill, Liverpool Gin and City of London Distillery across Europe and in all sectors. The result, Roffe says, is a five-fold


increase in Halewood’s DF&TR gin business in H1 2018 year-on-year, with growth in Europe levering entry into Asia Pacific.


Hendrick’s cultivates the unusual


Hendrick’s Gin continues to rocket in popularity, taking a 43% share of the super-premium global travel retail segment in 2017 according to IWSR


data on behalf of William Grant & Sons (WGS). “We’re seeing a number of interesting


trends in premium gin across key markets including flavoured & coloured gin, storytelling through botanicals, savoury gins and international versus local, where consumers are embracing both hyper-local gins as well as more exotic gins from abroad,” explains WGS


SEPTEMBER 2018


Managing Director Global Travel Retail Ed Cottrell (pictured left). “In 2018, retail sales have been


helped tremendously by large scale activations. In February we ran a peculiar Valentine’s Day campaign to celebrate Hendrick’s and its odd infusion of rose and cucumber in airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Barcelona, Changi, Madrid, Geneva, Colombo and Dubai, with passengers enjoying free roses, gift bags and a peculiar guide to romance. “Following this was the World


Cucumber Day activations, which saw Hendrick’s pioneer the remarkable fruit. We worked closely with retailers including DFS, Dufry, Delhi Duty


Free, Harding Retail, Heinemann and Lagardère Travel Retail to bring the ‘Cultivate the Unusual’ campaign to life in GTR using a combination of tasting bars, iconic branding, promoters, gifts and striking theatre pieces.”


“Consumers are looking to know who is making their gin and how and why they’re making it, so it’s important to champion your origin and point of difference.”


Andrew Carter,


Global Commercial Director, Chase Distillery


Likewise, Havn Gin is expanding its DF&TR frontiers, with increasing customer requests and negotiations with retailers for the upcoming season. Commenting on the rise of


flavoured variants, Havn Gin’s Andreas Grassl says: “From my


Heady sales of Hendrick's Gin owe much to successful World Cucumber Day activations.


TRBUSINESS 49


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