Year in Review: Partnerships
Taking Trinity partnerships to the next level (I)
We honour some of the most powerful and commercially impactful multi-stakeholder collaborations across our sector during the past year.
“A game-changer in travel retail” – Avolta debuts Presentedby concept at Zayed International Airport
Avolta and Presentedby delivered a memorable worldwide travel retail debut for the London urban streetwear brand at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi in Q1 this year.
With zero-waste strategies employed in build and in-store features, the 210sq m outlet fuses luxury, innovation and sustainability in the heart of the airside arena.
For the brand, it builds on its tailored approach to destination, with the space incorporating flowing sculptures and virtual digital simulations in a tribute to Abu Dhabi’s desert oases. It also extends its collections of exclusive sneakers, clothing and accessories to airports, after opening downtown stores in Doha, Dubai, London, Mexico City, Paris and Riyadh.
For the airport company it delivers fresh, engaging experiences that tap into changing consumer demands.
And for the travel retailer, it moves the offer away from the tried and trusted, with Avolta figuring that neither necessarily applies to younger generations.
The retailer is also offering the Presentedby collections in tandem with its certified range of pre-owned luxury accessories, bags and watches. Pre-loved and sneaker culture: two terms you haven’t heard much of in airport retail, but the chances are that will change in the future as Avolta and its global peers step up their efforts to appeal to new generations of travellers.
Full story here.
An immersive Ploom experience at Dubai International Airport
A quality quartet of partners – brand owner JTI, Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Airports and JCDecaux – jointly developed a deeply engaging takeover of the consumer journey to support a mid-year campaign around Heated Tobacco Product offering Ploom X Advanced.
Via immersive experiences at Dubai International, they captured attention and drove engagement across physical and digital touchpoints. These ranged from branded Promozones, Dual & Smoking Lounges, and digital activation alongside the vital human touch in Ploom Experts right across the airport environment.
Behind the partnership lies the brand ambition by JTI to create a globally recognised name in Ploom, which itself is a response to consumer demand for innovation in heated tobacco and new ways of delivering it, using education via the senses of smell, sight, touch and sound.
The choice of DXB as the launchpad for the biggest campaign so far devoted to Ploom’s emergence was clear. As the world’s leading airport for international passenger traffic, Dubai represents a crossroads of humanity and allows brands to tell their story to the most diverse travelling audience on the planet.
This campaign was the subject of a special edition of The Moodie Davitt Spotlight Series, which you can access here.
L’Oréal Travel Retail celebrates YSL Beauty Light Club Pentarchy at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport
We salute an imaginative ‘Pentarchy’ partnership that brought together Avolta, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Ezeiza International Airport and Meta, alongside L’Oréal’s YSL Beauty brand, for a campaign earlier this year at the gateway to Argentina.
L’Oréal Travel Retail Americas brought its YSL Beauty Light Club campaign to life at the location, a channel first for the Americas.
At the heart of the activation is the YSL Beauty Light Club, a dazzling pop-up inspired by nightlife and music culture. It combined AI DJ experiences, fragrance profiling and makeup discovery, and crucially, engaged travellers across every touchpoint of their journey – from in-flight media to digital platforms and interactive retail spaces.
This ‘Pentarchy’ collaboration – uniting airline, airport, retailer, brand and media partners – memorably reimagined the airport environment as an immersive, emotional and entertaining destination, and deserves recognition among the partnership storis of the year.
Full story here.
Lancôme and Qatar Duty Free reveal pioneering hybrid concept ‘Café De La Rose’ at Hamad International Airport
In its 25-year journey to date, Qatar Duty Free has built a deserved reputation as a standard bearer for quality and innovation and a relentless champion for the power of partnership.
Among the latest examples of its collaboration ethos in action was the September opening of the groundbreaking Café De La Rose concept at Hamad International Airport.
Located in Concourse D, the space fuses beauty, fragrance and gastronomy, drawing on Lancôme’s French heritage and QDF’s expertise in experiential retail to create a memorable hybrid experience for travellers.
The opening underlines L’Oréal Travel Retail’s ‘Pentarchy’ partnership approach (also noted in our story above), which brings together airline, airport, retailer, brand and group to deliver elevated travel retail experiences.
The campaign was supported by pre-trip touchpoints via Qatar Airways CRM campaigns, in-app engagement and striking OOH media visibility at Hamad International Airport, incorporating digital screens and pink buggies.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Retail & Hospitality Officer Thabet Musleh commented: “Café De La Rose is a perfect example of how our partnerships allow us to bring world-class brands and exceptional concepts to our passengers. Working with Lancôme and L’Oréal Travel Retail, we’ve created a space that blends beauty, fragrance and gastronomy in a way that’s unique to Hamad International Airport. It’s all about giving passengers reason to pause, engage and enjoy an experience that goes beyond what they expect from an airport visit.”
Full story here.
Partner’s message
The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 349 | 23 December 2025
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 6 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (MA Travel Retail). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please email kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com