Why drinks brands with thoughtful design gain traction in travel retail

While travellers wait for flights not everyone has an inclination to shop. If travel stress reduces interest and conversion rates, how do drinks brands gain attention? db assesses how tackling cortisol levels and standing out wins sales.

Doing something different has been the battle-cry of the global travel retail (GTR) sector. For many, this has meant showcasing exclusive products that cannot be bought or seen elsewhere. For others, however, it is now going a stage further by understanding the mindset of the traveller and also the competition housed within the same busy aisles.

Emotional connection

Look across the drinks category and the employment of techniques used to turn heads have moved from spectacle and bedazzlement to something more akin to limerence and emotional connection.

This year, Brown Forman showed a design for The Glendrionach House Editions, essentially a trio of single malt Scotch whiskies created specifically for GTR and inspired by the estate’s historical roots and founder James Allardice’s tradition of hosting guests in his drawing-room. Themes that were a nod at provenance, but also highly relatable on a personal level.

The bottlings show three “room” expressions that correspond to European cities. Namely, The Sevillian Room – a whisky matured in Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, and Palo Cortado sherry casks; The Venetian Room – which is a whisky finished in Amarone, Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks and The Parisian Room – a whisky finished in Cognac, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez casks.

With this series, Brown Forman has effectively made travel and interior style a new concept. The firm revealed there is a sense of warmth and homeliness in every destination people visit.

Speaking to db about the concept, Brown Forman GTR marketing manager Leah Browner said that the “new travel exclusive range with three brand new expressions was inspired by the founder and the house that he lived in and all the travels he went on and each variant represents a room in a city that he went to”. Browner noted that these elements are things that “put people at ease, because they can relate to the home and also each destination in a way that feels understandable”.

Empathy and ease

Empathy in retail has, historically, meant understanding the specific psychological state of a traveller. Really tapping into having some knowledge of their anticipation, stress, or even their desire to celebrate.

According to brand storytelling business We Are Continuous, brand owners that successfully build upon these emotions can unlock further sales. By focusing on several core areas such as a gift-buying traveller mindset, the explorer who is homesick and searching for items with a sense of place, or the traveller that seeks an adventuresome aspirational lifestyle, there are results in the form of volumes.

Learning from these methods, which place people within the GTR space into a state where they feel at ease, can help to turn heads. At the same time, many spirits brand owners can conjure emotions by exhibiting a strong sense of place. This also lends itself to boosting conversion rates.

Encouraging relaxation

For instance, Siberian Express Vodka, which is owned and globally distributed by the Solex Group is a fine example of utilising space to offer experience and relaxation as well as a hefty dose of provenance. The super-premium spirit is produced using natural Siberian ingredients and is distilled in Southern Siberia in Kazakhstan. Within the GTR platform, the brand offers up a view on luxury travel and truly shows how well it knows people are looking for ways to appreciate the travel experience, rather than look for its stress inducers.

Examples of this were seen this year at The TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference where the brand owners showed visitors how an attractive proposition can draw attention to a super-premium brand. For Siberian Express Vodka, by recreating a timeless train carriage aesthetic the brand owner encouraged people to relax and look out at the scenery and watch the world go by. In many ways, the team had effectively recreated both a time machine to a past era and also a hint of calm amid a busy space. This kept the spirits brand’s activation interesting and enticing but without seeming to affect the sense of happiness emitted from the peaceful atmosphere. It also echoed how travel can still feel luxurious and part of the getaway itself, an extremely complex thing to achieve in an airport setting.

Describing the firm’s methods for putting people at ease, Siberian Express Vodka head of brand Mikhail Protsko said: “We want to give a visualisation of the immersive journey on Siberian Express to the Western Siberian area because our vodka is inspired by this luxury train journey.”

Captivating design

Drinks brands that rely on stylish, eye-catching stylings within travel retail are adept at managing to cut through a crowded and fast-paced environment to directly appeal to a captive, high-spending consumer. Many GTR-savvy spirits brands owners already know this. But how might a winery do this when it is not so well-recognised within the airport retail space? By tearing up the rule book on packaging and, instead, showing the passer-by something captivating that they absolutely do not expect to see.

Packaging not only immediately communicates a drinks brand’s unique story, but also its level of premium quality as well as its exclusivity. The effect can be immediate and, in some cases, boost impulse-buying at the point of sale.

A good example of this in action within the wine category for GTR would be to recognise what Italian Wine Brands (IWB) has done with Voga Italia. A brand that has used its shrewd sense of style and an understanding of the aspiration-seeking travelling consumer to stand out from the crowd and grab attention.

Voga Italia is known for its sleek cylindrical bottles and its focus in travel retail includes airlines where it is seeing success with its Voga Prosecco DOC Brut and Voga Prosecco DOC Still. Each bottle, which does not blend in with the shape of any other wine bottle within the same space, cries out to be seen and admired.

Telling db about the wine brand’s methods of communication via packaging, IWB PR and communications Stefania Vittoni said: “The packaging of Voga attracts lifestyle oriented customers because it’s a very fashion focused brand, so we do a lot of events in fashion. Global travel retail is a luxury platform and knows that people want something different.”

Revealing more about Voga’s presence in GTR, IWB export account manager Esteban Garcia Pascual admitted that the stylishness of the packaging and the fact that the bottle shape was very different from others was something that had assisted with its positioning and told db: “With Voga, we are with Duty Free America. We are business class in AeroMexico. We are in all the units through African Eastern, we are in some airports in the Gulf area, in East Africa and we are in India.”

Driving sales conversion and expansion

Giving context to the sort of penetration IWB has across the channel, Garcia Pascual also revealed that there are plans afoot to grow the brand’s presence across Europe. It has a goal to use this plus-point as part of its expansion.

Garcia Pascual said: “We export to 100 countries and we produce around six million bottles.” But, he added, there are big plans for the future “to target European airports” and noted that this is because of its sought-after stylings, he added: “Voga is now growing also in Europe, especially in Italy”.

To learn more, db has delved deeper into the topic of the top travel retail conversion tactics to boost drinks sales as well as the biggest talking points at the TFWA Asia Pacific show for 2026 for drinks brand owners looking for more tips on how to get ahead in GTR.

Hear more from the TFWA president Sarah Branquinho in db‘s exclusive interview with her this month as she takes to the helm of the organisation leading the GTR sector into the future.

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