The Three Stills Company says its immediate priority is to build awareness and equity for its core brands, as the firm prepares to showcase products through the TRMarketplace digital forum for DF&TR.

Tony Roberts, Co-Founder and Director, The Three Stills Company is the latest interviewee on ‘Talking TRMarketplace’, a special series of vox pop style video interviews.

Roberts takes the opportunity to explain the story behind the creation of the Borders Distillery, the first Scotch whisky distillery in the Scottish borders since 1837.

Distilling began in 2018, which means production of the first liquid is not too far away [Scotch whisky must be aged for a minimum of three years by law – Ed].

“In the meantime while we are waiting for the Scotch to mature, we’ve created our own blended Scotch whiskies and blended malt whisky. We’ve also created a premium gin and vodka brand, made at the distillery from local barley.

“We believe our Puffing Billy Steam Vodka could be particularly interesting within the travel retail channel – it’s an exciting and interesting concept and could help bring some life to the vodka segment.”

‘A MORE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD’

Travel retail’s premium offerings and shopping experiences represent a particular attraction to the Three Stills Company, which identifies the cancellation of the TFWA World Exhibition as one of the main reasons for exhibiting on TRMarketplace.

“TRMarketplace appears to be a great forum for buyers to browse and connect with brands… we can set up video meetings with buyers, send out sampling kits prior to the show which will enable us to have a more interactive experience during a meeting slot, conduct tasting sessions, get the liquid in front of decision makers and have the buyers learn a little bit more about the brands.

“The beauty of this concept for us is retailers – that perhaps due to budgetary constraints given the time we’re in at the moment – might send a more streamlined team to Cannes, whereas this opportunity enables whole merchandising and buying teams to spend as much time as they want in the marketplace.

“The structure of this event feels as though it was perhaps a more level-playing field for smaller companies like ourselves.”

TRMarketplace is available for all categories and will allow each supplier/brand access to a dedicated ‘brand hub’.

With a fixed price to exhibit of GBP£4,495 (ex VAT) – available to every company regardless of size – TRBusiness and Bluedog Productions believe that this opportunity is accessible to all.

Pre-registration is open for DF&TR retailers, airports, cruise lines, border stores and airlines, who will gain free-of-charge access to the TRMarketplace.

The digital forum has received overwhelming support from the world’s leading travel retail companies; airport operators; inflight concessionaires; cruise, port and border store companies; and many others (see some of the latest below).