Beauty company Puig reports that it recently held its worldwide travel retail Beauty Advisor (BA) Convention in the company’s home city of Barcelona, entitled ‘Made in Barcelona’. This was aimed at bringing 250 members of staff from 36 nations together for two action-packed days to participate in presentations, brand workshops and motivational exercises and skill development sessions.

The event was also aimed at bringing Puig’s shop staff teams from different regions and diverse cultures right into the heart of the organization, to understand more about the company, its origins and culture and its ambitious future travel retail plans. 

Members of staff from as far afield as the Maldives, USA, Jordan, and Chile attended, with 11 of the BAs given special mentions for each providing more than 20 years’ service to the company. 

Proceedings began with a warm welcome and introduction from Chairman and Ceo Marc Puig, followed by a travel retail overview from Puig General Manager Travel Retail, Patrick Bouchard. This included a very popular fly-on-the-wall video documentary of Bouchard working as a Beauty Advisor for the day in WDF’s Heathrow Terminal 3 store. 

GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
The agenda then focused on major growth opportunities for Puig in travel retail, including a dedicated session on Asian consumers led by International Marketing and Customer Development Director, Lyndea Dew. 

Here, the audience witnessed key market trends and forecasts, rounded off by a compelling presentation from guest-speaker Rhea Bhachu, WDF’s Asian team customer service leader at Heathrow T3. 

Bhachu gave a first-hand account of the unique demands of Asian consumers in the travel retail environment and advised the BAs on specific sales techniques and customer service tips to drive sales.

The workshops continued into the afternoon with Puig’s travel retail brand teams introducing the second semester 2011 novelties and new product launches.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Day two saw the BAs participate in ‘exciting outdoor activities’, which provided an opportunity for them to discover more about the city of Barcelona. This was achieved through different modes of transport, including segways, gocars, convertible cars, boats and bicycles.

Lyndea Dew comments: “Puig’s BAs continue to add a tremendous amount of value to our brands. In fact, they make all the difference. Welcoming our diverse team to Barcelona was an incredible exercise with huge value gained by the individuals involved and Puig. 

“I think all-comers have left with extra knowledge in their head, an extra spring in their step and precious piece of Barcelona in their heart.”