Multi-award winning independent brand experience agency ignis has appointed Asha Kanhai as Business Development Manager.

Kanhai has worked in the marketing industry for 15 years. Her experience covers time at agencies including Field Day (formerly Arnold KLP), The Marketing Store and Summit, as well as a previous stint at ignis. She has worked on brands including 7UP, Fruit Shoot, Mars, Mattessons Fridge Raiders and Bordeaux wines.

Stephanie Whitaker, Managing Director of ignis, says: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Asha back.  Her role is to continue nurturing new business connections across a client portfolio she is already familiar with as well as developing new client relationships.”

ignis is a multi-award winning independent brand experience agency based in Fulham. Over its 29-year history, it has worked for a wide range of clients ranging from Jameson Whiskey, Sheraton Hotels and Fuller’s to Betfair and Cuticura. A member of the Institute of Promotional Marketing, ignis won two Gold trophies and a Silver for its #JamesonBeOriginal360 experience work for Pernod Ricard Travel Retail and Jameson in the IPM Awards 2017; the same campaign then went on to win a Silver and a Bronze in the pan-European IMC Awards.

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Ballantine’s Hard Fired whisky variant – matured in charred American oak barrels – has introduced multisensory charred bars to Paris airports to highlight the bespoke distillation process.

The Ballantine’s Hard Fired multisensory bar will be a new engagement launching in the travel retail environment, giving passengers the opportunity to ‘fire up’ their journey with a taste of whisky while sitting at a bespoke charred bar, smelling hints of wood smoke and vanilla.

Passengers are also being offered the opportunity to ‘fire up’ their mobile devices for free via charging points built into the bars.

Brand activation agency ignis worked with Ballantine’s to develop a bar that appears to have been constructed from the charred wood of the whisky barrels, which has gone live across airports in Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly and Nice airports.

The double charred barrels will feature in each activation to highlight the unique way in which the smoky taste of Ballantine’s Hard Fired develops during its resting phase.

Emily Ho-Ng, Brand Manager at Pernod Ricard Travel Retail EMEA, says: “The activation not only explains the process behind Ballantine’s Hard Fired, but also instils an emotional connection with the brand through the drama it brings to Paris and Nice.”

ignis is a multi-award winning independent brand activation agency based in Fulham. Over its 29-year history it has worked for clients including Jameson Whiskey, Sheraton Hotels, Fuller’s, Betfair and Cuticura.

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Blackjack Promotions, which specialises in airport staffing, travel retail and experiential marketing, has appointed Andy DeVito as Account Director to help the agency drive forward its plans to offer clients an ‘end-to-end’ service encompassing strategy and planning, creative, production, logistics, staffing and post-campaign analytics.

DeVito, 33, returns to Blackjack from specialist events, experiential and retail production house Bluedog Productions, where, since 2014, he has been Airport Specialist and Head of Global Travel Retail, delivering event and experiential activations and retail builds in numerous international territories for clients including Bacardi, Remy Martin and Stolichnaya.

Prior to Bluedog, he spent four years working at Blackjack, where he ended up spending a year as Bacardi Brand Ambassador, helping switch the brand from short term tactical activations in global duty free to a rolling ‘always on’ strategy.

In his newly-created role at Blackjack, DeVito will focus on improving the integration of the creative, design, planning and logistics services that the agency provides in addition to its award-winning staffing service. He will report to Ian Priestman, Blackjack’s Head of Experiential.

Priestman added that many larger clients are increasingly looking to consolidate their marketing spend with full service agencies which also have international reach. Blackjack already delivers campaigns across Europe and the Middle East, with an established operation out of Dubai Airport.

Blackjack Promotions is a leading staffing solutions, travel retail and experiential specialist, with operations in the UK and the Middle East. The company was founded in 1995 and acquired by OmniServ Limited, the European division of Air Serv Corporation, owned by ABM, in 2013. Blackjack also has an office in Dubai where it operates under the trading name Air Serv Hospitality Services MENA.

Blackjack is a member of the Airport Promotion Agencies (APA), of which Blackjack MD Sally Alington is joint-chairman, and the Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM).

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