In an exclusive video interview, TRBusiness talked with Gemma Bateson, Corporate Affairs & Communications Director WWDF, JTI, about the issues facing the global travel retail industry in relation to excessive regulation, which has potential to severely erode brand identities across multiple product categories.

“I’m very much focused on protecting the whole industry…[we need to use our collective strength] to explain to governments that we are an industry worth protecting and we are really important to the global economy,” said Bateson in an interview filmed during the TFWA Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition.

Bateson said she has noticed a progression, certainly within the last 12 months, in the willingness of companies from other product categories to face these issues together. She highlighted the confectionery and liquor categories as having an increased awareness of the potential impacts to the business.

“We’re talking about potential graphic health warnings on liquor bottles in South Korea,” added Bateson. “We saw a bill passed in Ireland last year that means graphic health warnings on alcohol bottles in two years’ time.”

Bateson took TRBusiness on a tour of its striking Future of Brands pop-up (skip to 02.40) which effectively communicates that the threats of excessive regulation are not isolated to tobacco and that other categories are facing a ‘slippery slope’ scenario if they don’t wake up to the challenges now…