In the ever-expanding world of global travel and retail, there exists a unique and vibrant sector that often goes unnoticed by the average consumer – Travel Retail. In the marketing world, it is also sometimes referred to as the “sixth continent”, an arena that comes with its unique set of challenges and opportunities. It's the domain of duty-free shops in international airports, land border stores, onboard airlines, ferries, and cruise ships. This thriving marketplace operates 24/7, serving travelers from a multitude of countries, languages, and currencies. Keith Gildea holds a prominent spot in this dynamic industry as the Head of Americas for Global Travel Retail at Diageo. With nearly nine years of experience under his belt, Keith has journeyed through various roles within the company, and his current position is instrumental in shaping Diageo's presence in more than 110 countries. In this conversation with Keith, we discuss his background, his passion for the world of spirits, and his perspective on the Global Travel Retail industry.

Diageo is known for its diverse and iconic portfolio of spirits. Could you tell us about the unique challenges and opportunities you face when promoting these brands in the Global Travel Retail sector?

We are in a hugely fortunate position to have an unrivalled depth and breadth to our range which reaches across categories and price points. Our travel retail environment is complex and demanding as customers want something special to offer their consumers and consumers want the familiar and the different all at once when travelling. Brands they know and love airside, but also the option of something new.  As an industry we need to inspire and excite to break through the physical and mental noise passengers experience when traveling – from pre-airport packing, airport check-in & security, right through to finding your departure gate, it’s a challenge to get passengers into that shopping mindset and drive footfall into stores. So thinking about the full journey from start to finish is important. At Diageo, we are focused on boosting footfall and penetration – from targeting consumers earlier through digital initiatives that drive pre-orders like our What’s Your Whisky? platform with Attenza.net to our in-store travel retail exclusive products like Johnnie Walker Black Triple Cask or the new and delicious (not to mention exclusive to travel retail) Johnnie Walker Blue Xordinaire available in airports across the Americas. We want to give consumers a reason to carve out extra time and shop duty-free during their journey.

Image: Johnnie Walker Blue Xordinaire in Punta Cana

As the Head of Americas for Global Travel Retail, you oversee a vast and diverse market. What are the specific strategies and tactics you employ to cater to the needs of this region?

Our Travel Retail Americas division operates across over 30 countries and nearly 100 airports and as a region, we manage our business from 3 locations; Toronto, Panama, and now Miami. With such a complex and changing consumer demand driven by different geographies, nationalities, and cultures we need to ensure the right brands in our portfolio show up at all the right touch points and times for our consumers. So if it's Latin America we know we need to get our big Scotch Brands like Buchanan’s front and center, or in North America, consumers love Crown Royal (plus a lot more) and throughout tequila is on a massive trend expanding beyond Mexico, and the Americas – with those areas themselves looking for the different and the exclusive within the category. 

We need to be present and relevant on the right occasions whether it's every day like a birthday gift or big celebrations like Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year, or Diwali - our brands need to show up and give reasons for passengers to stop, engage, and purchase. You would have seen some engaging activations across our brands in the region in recent months from Don Julio 1942 in New York to Johnnie Walker Blue Xordinaire in Punta Cana, and Baileys Colada in Panama. Our fun and engaging activations help to drive the trialing/testing of our brands help passengers choose great gifts and make moments, holidays, and visits extra special.

Image: Baileys Colada in Panama

You've had a remarkably diverse career, spanning multiple geographies. How have these experiences shaped your approach to managing global operations within Diageo?

Born and raised in North Dublin, Ireland I never imagined I’d be living & working all over the world in some great cities like Sydney, Toronto, London, Panama & now Miami visiting a whole lot more. I never take it for granted how lucky I am and I always try and take learnings from everywhere I go. I was recently in Delhi, India supporting the training of our wonderful customer service team there, and was amazed at the culture, food, and friendliness of the people. Their passion for our brands, especially Johnnie Walker, is unrivaled and it got me thinking about how we could tap into this emerging market and the Indian passenger here in the Americas more in the future – in particular, I am excited about how we can make Johnnie Walker a bigger part of the Diwali celebration here in the Americas next year. I think it also keeps me sensitive and alert to the opportunity of culture and markets for our sales and marketing no doubt.

In your role as Europe Sales Manager for Global Travel, you spearheaded significant growth in Diageo's airline business. Could you elaborate on the strategies you used to achieve this remarkable success?

Many years ago, I was given a challenge to revitalize Diageo’s involvement in the Airline channel in Europe. It had slightly fallen out of proper and I think we had forgotten the brand-building opportunities it can deliver our brands. I took this as a challenge, to remind colleagues and demonstrate to the airline industry that we wanted to become a big player in this channel. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, I had some success. Much was thanks to some great airline and distribution partners (they know who they are), and we were able to accelerate our participation in the channel. So much so that now across Diageo Global Travel we have a dedicated airline team spearheading the next stage of growth, it is a really exciting space to build and showcase brands.

Image: Travel retail brings exclusive brand extensions and limited editions to travellers

There will always be a special place in my heart for the airline business and its huge marketing potential for brands globally, helping passengers enjoy their first-holiday drink in the lounge or 40,000 feet in the air to buying a great gift for a loved one they haven’t seen in months or maybe even years! I’m genuinely excited to see the potential of this channel come to fruition in the coming years, especially with the role out of pre-order. 

You've had the privilege of working with various nationalities and cultures. How do you navigate the complexities of managing a team from different parts of the world?

First and foremost I would say diversity of culture and nationality is one of the most dynamic and engaging elements of travel retail and something to nurture and develop. At Diageo, we embrace inclusion and diversity and in many ways, travel retail is the microcosm of the total Diageo world. 

Diverse nationalities are present every day in my role, from our team, our customers, and of course our passengers. Inside and out. We sell and market to a global traveler/consumer and this is our challenge and our opportunity.  For our brands, it’s enormous, especially in the travel retail channel enabling us to sample with passengers and lead to purchase of products that maybe they have never even heard of before. Coming to work every day being surrounded by different nationalities, cultural differences & ideas just makes my job even more exciting and I couldn’t see how we would have the success we are having in the region without such a diverse team and ideas that they bring. Diversity in a team unlocks different thoughts, better ideas, and an enriched working life and view of this massive world.

Can you shed some light on how Diageo contributes to the development of talent in the industry, and what opportunities it offers for aspiring professionals?

I will celebrate 10 years with Diageo soon and nearly 14 years in the industry. It's constantly changing from consumer tastes, challenges, innovation, competition, and technology – it certainly keeps you on your feet. Diageo for me is a big driver in that change and being part of that is exciting. Diageo seeks out talent but also nurtures it – there is a wonderful blend of internal learning, training, and mentoring open to everyone.  For anybody in the industry or outside the industry, I couldn’t recommend a career with Diageo enough and it's not all just about sales or marketing. We have roles in any area people would like to take their careers finance, legal, business integrity, business effectiveness, talent engagement – the scope is huge. For example, our Spirit of Progress 2030 initiative is a great way that you can be part of change affecting our environment and communities in a real and positive way and we are always looking for great thought provokers and leaders to help us do business, better. For our current roles check out Diageo.com/careers.

Image: Diageo's Global Travel Retail Team at Summit of Americas 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

To conclude, what do you envision for the future of Global Travel Retail, and what role will Diageo play in shaping it?

Our industry has changed massively over the last 10 years and this change has accelerated since the Covid pandemic. Today the opportunity is right in front of us as increasingly demanding and aspirational passengers from all parts of the world seek different experiences and moments to savour through travel. We have the introduction of technology making it easier and more convenient for consumers to shop Duty-Free and the big challenge we have as an industry is to drive footfall and penetration, we can never sit still. There is also the partnership and innovation needed to drive solutions to sustainable challenges which have a spotlight on them in travel. During the pandemic Diageo made a big statement as a business on how we would like to double the size of the alcohol category by 2030, this means adding an extra $8 billion worth of retail sales over the next 6 years. The challenge is massive and we are on our way to that ambition, but it won't be easy. From delivering great gifting solutions with Johnnie Walker to helping consumers choose their right whisky with our What’s Your Whisky? platform to deliver great experiences as consumers travel with us. As an industry, we need to continue to work together to unlock growth opportunities in the future whilst thinking about our impact and consumers' wider wants and concerns.

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Conclusion:

Keith Gildea's journey through Diageo and the world of Global Travel Retail demonstrates the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the industry. His passion for the brands he represents, his strategic insights, and his dedication to nurturing talent have helped Diageo become a major player in this unique marketplace. As the travel industry continues to expand, Keith's leadership promises to bring new and exciting opportunities for Diageo and the spirits it offers to a global audience of travelers.

In conversation with Malvika Patel, Editor and VP, Beverage Trade Network