Delhi Duty Free Services scouts for a creative partner

India's largest duty free retail operator at the new Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi is looking for agencies with experience in handling retail and premium brands.

Delhi Duty Free Services (DDFS), the duty free retail operator at the new Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport, has called for a multi agency creative pitch to identify a partner to assist it in building its brand image, educate and increase brand awareness, promote offers and the wide range of product availability at the retail store.

The retail operator is looking at a two agency set up - one for its creative duties and the other for visual merchandising.

Talking to afaqs!, Abhijit Das, head, marketing, Delhi Duty Free Services, says, "One of the requisites is that the agency be one with experience in handling retail and premium brands. The agency also needs to have a sound understanding of the market, particularly travel retail."

"When one thinks of duty free shopping, international airports such as Singapore come to mind. However, we are looking to increase the awareness of duty free shopping in India," Das adds.

DDFS is looking aggressively at reaching frequent international travellers from North India and other in-bound travellers as well. It intends to select an agency by the last week of January 2011.

He adds that the planned campaign will be led by print, online, direct marketing and some BTL (below-the-line) activities.

"We are not looking at electronic media right away. Let us see how things evolve in the next two months," he says.

For the record, DDFS is a joint venture company between DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited), IDFS (Indian Duty Free Services) and ARI (Aer Rianta International). It is the single largest duty free retail operator in India at T3, the sixth largest airport in the world with a capacity to handle 34 million passengers every year.

Spread across 30,000 square meters, DDFS offers an extensive range of products across all categories including perfumes, cosmetics, liquor, tobacco, confectionery and luxury brands.