Heathrow launches major summer advertising campaign

BAA is launching a major advertising campaign in time for the summer getaway.

British Airways hosts Heathrow’s first lounge bar

Royal gold collection for Terminal 5

A special royal collection focusing on the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is to be launched in Terminal 5 by Welsh jewellery supplier Glogau Gold in conjunctiuon with World Duty Free.
The company has made wedding rings for members of the royal family since 1923 and are optimistic that they will be chosen for the Spring event, although no details are being official released.

Hackett comes to Terminal 4

Hackett, which specialises in stylish menswear, has opened a new  store in Terminal 4.

The 516 sq ft store opened its doors on September 24th and offered lines from the Hackett of London menswear and childrenswear collections as well as a wide range of accessories including ties, cufflinks and small leather goods.

The opening of Hackett of London forms part of Heathrow’s £200 million investment to rebuild parts of Terminal 4 to provide passengers with a new, modern airport building that offers improved shops and facilities and higher standards of service.  

Mark Owens, marketing director, Hackett of London: ‘We are very excited about being back in Terminal 4. It’s a fantastic opportunity with exposure to UK and international passengers who are and have the potential to be real fans of the brand. We are delighted to be working with Heathrow to make the most of this mutual opportunity.’

Hazel Catterall, head of fashion and accessories at Heathrow: “Terminal 4 champions the best of British fashion so we‘re absolutely delighted to be able to re-introduce Hackett of London to Heathrow. Known for its quality, luxurious and contemporary designs, Hackett is a perfect addition to the terminal.”

Terminal 5 store for Burberry

Fashion retailer Burberry has opened a new store in Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
The 847sq ft (78sq m) boutique, offers fashion and accessories from the Burberry London womenswear collection and the Burberry Prorsum diffusion line. It expands the brand’s presence to all Heathrow terminals.

The boutique follows Burberry’s store design concept developed by chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, using British materials and themes throughout the outlet. Video walls showcase content including footage from its latest fashion shows.

Award for Heathrow Retail Academy

The Heathrow Retail Academy has been recognised for its contribution to the local community by beating hundreds of entries to a prestigious National Big Tick award.

Presented by Business in the Community, the National Big Tick is the UK’s most influential, independent, peer assessed corporate responsibility award, and was presented in recognition of the Academy’s continued investment in local people.

The Heathrow Retail Academy helps local school pupils understand more about careers within the airport’s retail operation, gives unemployed residents from neighbouring communities the skills to access airport jobs and allows employees to acquire qualifications once in work.

The accredited qualifications on offer include Skills for Life, apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships, NVQs and a Foundation Degree in Retail Operations and People Management.  The unique feature of the Heathrow Retail Academy is that it manages the accredited qualifications on behalf of its retail partners.

More than 500 students have so far gained a qualification at the Heathrow Retail Academy and its recruitment processes, such as Routes to Work, have placed over 2,500 staff at the airport’s retail units.  Around 90% of them live within the five neighbouring boroughs that form the priority area for BAA Heathrow’s local labour strategy.

Karima Sakhi, Heathrow Retail Academy Manager, said: “We’re delighted to accept the National Big Tick award in recognition of the contribution that the Retail Academy has made to local employment and raising skill levels in Heathrow’s neighbouring communities.

“The Retail Academy is an innovative and strategic approach to bringing employers and employees together in a co-ordinated way. We’re not only concerned with overcoming barriers to employment, but ensuring that a retail job becomes a sustainable career with progression opportunities.

“The Heathrow Retail Academy works hard to offer individuals the chance to receive valuable training to help them grow in confidence, build skills and improve career prospects.  After all, motivated staff who feel valued are more likely to provide better customer service; and the offer of career development is central to staff retention, which is particularly important for airport employers.”

Stephen Howard, Chief Executive, Business in the Community said: “I congratulate The Heathrow Retail Academy on achieving their Big Tick. It has been a difficult 12 months for business, but this is a sign that companies are not losing their focus on making a positive impact on people and planet, and are prepared to lead by example. That’s what Business in the Community’s Awards for Excellence are all about – celebrating responsible business, the leadership that makes it happen, and the benefits to the business and society of doing so. Consumers need to see that businesses are proactive, visible and engaged on the big issues of the day, as the Heathrow Retail Academy has demonstrated.”

Campaign promotes Heathrow’s shopping deals

     A major advertising campaign has been launched to promote the advantages of shopping at Heathrow rather than London’s west end.
     Using the tagline ‘Heathrow shopping the West End for less’, it will target passengers from both the UK and abroad to communicate the average 15 per cent saving compared to the capital’s West End stores, says BAA.
     An outdoor advertising campaign is being rolled out across poster sites at the airport itself and digital screens on London Underground and major train stations. 
     The project, which has been developed by Heathrow’s advertising agency masius, encourages passengers to leave their shopping to their Heathrow departure, enabling them to take advantage of savings such as £87 off the Gloucester Kate Moss for Longchamp bag.
     Other products featured in the advertisements include Ray-Ban Aviators, Calvin Klein Eternity perfume, an iPod Touch 32GB, a Longines Flagship watch and Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair.
     Nick Adderley, the airport’s Marketing and Insight Director said: ‘Heathrow has recently been awarded the status of the best airport shopping in the world due to the outstanding mix of the best retailers and brands we offer. However from talking to our passengers, it became clear that many of them didn’t fully understand both the choice we offer and the great savings they can make.
     “The launch of ‘Heathrow shopping, the West End for less’ is a simple clear message that helps all our passengers understand better. We know our passengers enjoy the Heathrow shopping experience, which is one of the many ways we aim to make every journey better”, he said.

‘Pop-up’ jewellery outlet in Terminal 5

     A ‘pop-up’ store dedicated to jewellery brand Pandora has opened in the terminal 5 departures lounge.
     The 25sq m (269sq ft) temporary outlet will offer a large range of the company’s products including bracelets, charms, earrings and stack rings until September. 
      The pop-up shop features a white, glass and stainless steel design motif and offers aiport customers “an exclusive environment in which to experience the Pandora range”, according to World Duty Free.
     The brand’s stack rings will be showcased for the first time in travel-retail at the new location, which will be manned by Pandora staff from T5.
     WDF head of fashion accessories, souvenirs and technology Alex Willson said: “Both WDF and Pandora have worked incredibly hard with BAA to open this pop-up store.
       “There was much competition for this space amongst a variety of different brands and categories, but it shows that jewellery is becoming an ever more important part of the accessories/luxury offer of WDF.
      “We have a clear growth strategy for jewellery, and I am delighted that we have been able to closely work with [Pandora travel-retail director] Julian Mullins to move this initiative from paper to reality.”

53 per cent of people ‘stressed’ by airline weight limits – survey

    

    A total of 53% of people questioned in a survey say they feel unduly stressed when queuing to check-in their luggage at the airport, for fear of going over the weight limits.
    According to the survey of 2,000 travellers by luggage company Samsonite, women are more prone to luggage weight anxiety, with 40% admitting to sneaking a spare pair of shoes or handbag into their children’s or partner’s suitcase.
    30% of people have also had to repack their suitcase, often on the floor of an airport, in order to redistribute weight to another case or into their hand luggage.
    The survey comes as Samsonite launches B-LITE, a light softside suitcase aimed at air travellers. The 55cm cabin sized case weighing in at 2.3kg.
     “Samsonite has spent the last 100 years anticipating the needs of travellers by creating the lightest, strongest and most reliable suitcases on the market. Since luggage weight seems to be the single biggest cause of anxiety and stress for modern travellers, launching B-LITE, our lightest ever soft-side suitcase seemed to be the perfect antidote.” said Mark McGuigan, General Manager of Samsonite UK and Ireland.
    For 6 months Samsonite will also be introducing the first ever ‘Luggage Weight Assessments’ on board Samsonite-branded London taxis.  The taxis will be equipped with scales that will allow passengers the opportunity to weigh their suitcase on the journey to the airport, so they can redistribute excess weight to their hand luggage or a partner’s suitcase if necessary. 
   “We’re expecting a great response to the on board luggage weight assessments since, in recent years, I’ve noticed it is common for couples to anxiously row over the weight of their luggage on the way to the airport.”  said Stephen Riseborough, London Black Taxi Driver.

The survey found:

• 53% of people admit to feeling unduly stressed when queuing to check-in their luggage at the airport.
• 81.5% of people now check their chosen airline luggage allowance before even starting to pack for a holiday.
• 66% of people actually weigh their suitcases on domestic scales before setting off for the airport.
• Over half of people simply avoid taking any check-in luggage at all so as to escape paying any potential penalty fees.
• 58% of people deliberately pack less on the outbound journey to allow for increased weight on the return journey.
• 40% of women admit to sneaking a spare pair of shoes or handbag into their children’s or partner’s suitcase.
• 30% of people have repacked their suitcase on the floor of an airport.

Heathrow world’s ‘best airport shopping’

    Heathrow was named as the world’s best airport for shopping at the pretigious Skytrax World Airport Awards ceremony in Belgium.
    Citing terminal 5, but also improvements in other terminals especially 1 and 4,  Skytrax gave the award to Heathrow ahead of Amsterdam Schiphol (2nd) and Singapore Changi Airport (3rd).
    Brian Woodhead, Retails Concessions Director of Heathrow Airport said “airports play a vital role in passengers’ overall enjoyment of their journey and indeed holiday. We are committed to providing a world class shopping experience for our passengers at Heathrow and are continually looking at ways to enhance and improve our retail offering. It is fantastic that this hard work is being recognised by passengers across the globe and we look forward to raising the bar even higher over the next 12 months.”
   Commenting on the success of London Heathrow Airport, Skytrax Chairman, Mr Edward Plaisted said “This was a closely contested section of this global survey, and for 2010 is made more interesting by opening up the qualification to cover Airport Shopping as a complete entity – rather than travellers nominating just on the basis of duty free shopping. This Award covers all of the shopping facilities available within the airport environment, airside and landside, and is based on both the selection and quality of retail choices as well as standards of staff service delivered across these retail outlets. Whilst Terminal 5 is still the flagship leader at London Heathrow Airport, we found that customers were impressed by the upgraded shopping facilities at the other Heathrow terminals, Terminal 4 and Terminal 1 both ranking well in the study.”

Next Page »