DFS, Dubai and Heinemann head Global Awards race

Travel retailers across the world are biting their nails in anticipation of the industry’s most thrilling competition. Not the tender at Vienna International airport, nor that at Chicago O’Hare terminal five, but the DFNI Global Awards for Travel-Retail Excellence. The deadline for nominations has now passed—with voting so frenzied that the UN has been called in to observe next year’s process—and DFNI can officially reveal the companies shortlisted for this year’s honours.

 

It looks like another strong year for Singapore, with the airport authority and concessionaires DFS Group and Nuance-Watson (Singapore) all shortlisted for different awards. Nuance-Watson will be hoping for a double triumph after securing slots on the Airport Travel Retailer of the Year and Best New Shop Opening shortlists.

 

The prestigious Travel Retailer of the Year award features a three-way race between DFS Group, Dubai Duty Free and Gebr Heinemann—a repeat of last year’s competition, in which DFS triumphed for its second consecutive award; can it make it three in a row in 2008?

 

On the supplier side, retailers have voted for the hottest new product launches since January 2007, with three names rising to the fore: Absolut Disco, Diesel Fuel For Life and Johnnie Walker King George V Blue Label. Now an editorial panel comprising DFNI journalists faces the tough task of deciding the ultimate winner. The same panel will judge the Best New Shop Opening since January 2007—a race between Nuance-Watson (Singapore) at Changi terminal three, CTC-ARI at Larnaca airport and the first ever retailer to be nominated in the same year for two openings, Gebr Heinemann at Copenhagen Kastrup and Istanbul Ataturk airports. The remaining awards are decided purely by an industry vote.

 

William Grant & Sons’ innovative and travel-retail specific marketing campaigns for its key brands have earned the company its first appearance on the shortlist for Supplier of the Year, where it faces Diageo and Parfums Christian Dior. William Grant will be hoping to steal Diageo’s crown in this year’s competition.

 

The winners will be revealed at a glittering gala ceremony on February 29, at the DFNI Big Top Ball in aid of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. The dinner will be held at the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel in London. Tickets are available for £190+VAT. For more details or to place your booking, contact events manager Gerrard Kennedy at gerrard.kennedy@metropolis.co.uk or tel: +44 208 253 8607.

 
The full list of shortlisted companies is (in alphabetical order):