Backchannelmedia

Scotsman, The

By Fergus Sheppard

THE sales cyborgs are coming. Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports have entered into a marketing deal that allows so-called "adwalkers" - marketing people who wear computers - to stride the concourses in search of custom.

The deal has been struck with JCDecaux, the company that handles advertising at 13 UK airports and rail concessions including Heathrow, Gatwick, Eurostar and Eurotunnel.

Behind the new airport marketing initiative is Dublin-based Adwalker, brand leaders in what, in marketing jargon, is called "wearable media". The system involves marketers wearing a body pack featuring an LCD screen, computer, touchscreen and printer. The technology has been around for several years but its arrival at Britain's airports is new. Previous users of the Adwalker system include Virgin Music, Volvo, Lufthansa, Motorola, American Express, and Jameson.

The main sponsors of Adwalkers at airports are likely to be hotels, theatres, airlines, credit cards and car-hire companies. The idea is that sales can be made on the spot, with marketers printing off receipts or vouchers while the customer waits.

So why do the scheme's backers believe those loitering at airport shops waiting for their gate to be called will want to transact with the digital equivalent of a sandwich board?

Denise Moore from JCDecaux Airport says the ability to see a product up close - "experiential marketing" - is a powerful tool at airports, which benefits from "captive audiences and long dwell times".

She adds: "Adwalker's unique ability to engage customers as they move around the airport will complement our existing poster sites and promotional activity."

John Pizzamiglio from BAA says he believes airports are "a unique media environment for brands as travellers are very receptive to innovative messaging", adding he believes adwalkers will "provide passengers with the full brand experience in an engaging and interactive way".

The reason why companies are keen to market themselves inside airports is well known. Research routinely points to airports as places filled with people who will spend money because they have time to kill. In the case of business travellers - the "high-worth individuals" much-loved by marketers - they have plenty to spend. But even for ordinary holidaymakers, the feel good factor that surrounds the start of a holiday can often turn normally cautious shoppers into sudden impulse spenders.

The British Retail Consortium - a trade association which represents retailers from department stores to small independent shops - backs the advertising industry's view that people in airports display very different spending behaviour to those on the high street.

A spokesman says: "In any sort of airport retail environment you have got a lot of traffic flow and a relatively captive audience for a significant period of time.

"If you're on an international flight you've got to be at the airport two hours in advance. Once you've checked in and had a cup of coffee, what do you do? A lot of people on international holidays have disposable income and they head for the shops, often for high value items at duty-free stores."

While airports have always offered shops, some terminal shopping areas have appeared to be bolted on, with well-known brand names crammed in minus their familiar high-street look. However, airport design is evolving with shopping in mind, and Heathrow's Terminal Five is set to be one of the first terminals where 200,000 square feet of retail space has been planned from the outset.

The square footage inside an airport can prove highly lucrative. Prime retail areas at Heathrow can generate sales of more than GBP 4,000 per square foot a year, compared to the high street where GBP 900 a year is regarded as brisk trading.

Overall, BAA's seven UK airports are home to around 725 shops and 130 bars and restaurants. Last year, British shoppers spent more than GBP 580 million at airport shops, with the average traveller spending GBP 4.16 on airport retail. The majority of that airport spend goes into tax-free shops and catering. BAA is also earning before travellers even set foot inside the airport terminal, with car parking last year earning the company GBP 163 million.

The numbers of passengers using Scottish airports points to the significance of this retail market. Eight million people passed through Edinburgh airport last year, with 8.6 million in Glasgow and 2.7 million in Aberdeen. Glasgow airport has 55,000 square feet of retail space, equivalent to the size of two average out-of-town supermarkets.

The marketing message can range from local to international. Glasgow airport offers a branch of Jenners and Celtic and Ranges stores for those looking for souvenirs of the city's football clubs. Edinburgh boasts an airside version of the Parisian patisserie restaurant Paul and another food outlet, the Seafood Bar, both appealing unashamedly to the upmarket profile of passengers using the airport.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the top three advertisers inside BAA airports last year were for companies offering business services - the Royal Bank of Scotland, British Airways and Vodafone. However, the nature of that GBP 32 million advertising market may be changing as large numbers of passengers continue to use no-frills airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair. Increasingly, leisure brands - knitwear company Pringle and outdoor clothing retailer North Face, for example - are advertising. Soap company Surf has even advertised in arrivals areas, knowing that travellers are returning home with suitcases bulging with dirty washing.

While the targeting of air travellers may be increasing sophisticated, not all industry watchers are convinced that the adwalker idea will work.

Jeremy Lee, the news editor for Marketing magazine, says: "My reservation is that I think the national psyche is such that you are not likely to go up to one of these people and start interacting with their body pack.

"When you go on holiday you want to check in your bag, get a book and suntan lotion - I'm not sure you are going to be that bothered with some student coming up to you and interacting with you."

(c) 2006 Scotsman, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.