Johnnie Walker Client Success Story: Airport Retail Transformation with Signature Scent Branding at Changi Airport
Solving a Brand Immersion Gap with Signature Scent Technology
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The Challenge
When Diageo and DFS set out to launch a permanent Johnnie Walker House at Changi Airport, their vision was to create an immersive flagship retail destination that captured the brand’s luxury heritage. The space was designed to look like a vintage steamer trunk—visually rich and globally consistent.
However, the retail experience lacked a way to bring the iconic Blue Label’s story to life on a deeper emotional level. With thousands of luxury products competing for attention in Singapore’s bustling Terminal 3, the challenge was clear:
How do you stand out in a duty-free environment where visual branding alone isn’t enough?
The goal was to differentiate the brand, deepen customer engagement, and drive premium whisky sales using a multi-sensory approach, without disrupting the aesthetic integrity of the display. This required a specialist partner with deep experience in olfactory branding, scent diffusion systems, and luxury retail activations.
Our Role in Creating the Scent Experience
Equal Strategy was selected to design and deliver a signature scent experience to match the taste notes of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
Fragrance Inspired by Whisky Tasting Notes
We designed a bespoke scent that echoed Blue Label’s signature: woody, smoky, nutty, and fruity. The fragrance was refined through iterations to reflect the liquid’s sensory narrative in ambient form.
Precision Micro-Diffusion Technology
Equal Strategy engineered a discreet button-activated scent delivery system mounted within the wall display. This ensured guests experienced each fragrance note individually, without oversaturation or scent interference in the surrounding retail space.
Architectural Integration with Display Design
Our team worked closely with retail architects and brand designers to conceal and align the scent diffusers within the trunk-themed display. The result: seamless integration with no visual disruption.
Signature Scent Stewardship by Simon Faure-Field
Led by renowned scent branding expert Simon Faure-Field, the process balanced artistic fragrance development with technical execution, ensuring the scent became a sensory expression of Blue Label’s luxury essence.
Tangible Results from Scent Branding in Airport Retail
Equal Strategy’s multi-sensory approach turned a luxury whisky display into an immersive experience that stood out in a competitive duty-free environment.
Boosted Shopper Dwell Time
The scent-enhanced display held attention longer, increasing shopper engagement and creating a more memorable retail encounter.
Stronger Emotional Brand Connection
The bespoke fragrance mirrored Blue Label’s tasting notes, deepening emotional recall and influencing purchase intent.
Praised in Retail & Travel Media
Featured in top airport retail publications for its innovative use of scent in experiential marketing.
Scaled Across Asian Travel Retail
The success model was replicated in other major airports, proving Equal Strategy’s regional leadership in scent branding..
Why it Matters
In premium travel retail environments—especially in global hubs like Singapore Changi Airport—brands compete fiercely for attention, emotional connection, and conversion. While visual merchandising and packaging play a critical role, they can only go so far in delivering a memorable customer experience.
Fragrance fills this gap by activating the most powerful of the human senses: smell. Studies show that olfactory memory is more emotionally charged and longer-lasting than visual or verbal memory. By introducing a signature scent experience, Equal Strategy enabled Johnnie Walker to move beyond passive display and create an immersive, multi-sensory brand moment that travelers would remember long after leaving the terminal.
Equal Strategy turned a whisky display into an unforgettable signature moment — using scent to:
- Translate a product’s essence (taste, heritage, luxury) into emotional storytelling
- Increase dwell time and shopper engagement in high-traffic airport zones
- Influence perception, preference, and purchase decisions at the point of sale
- Differentiate a brand from competitors through an experiential marketing approach
In this context, scent is not a decorative layer—it’s a strategic branding asset.
Why Leading Brands Choose Equal Strategy
Signature Fragrance Design
We design bespoke scents that reflect your brand’s story, emotional tone, and sensory identity—refined through expert collaboration and creative precision.
Advanced Scent Technology
We deploy state-of-the-art scent diffusion systems—from discreet in-display units to HVAC-integrated solutions—engineered for retail, airport, and luxury environments.
Seamless Brand Integration
Our team works hand-in-hand with architects, interior designers, and marketing leaders to deliver scent strategies that fit naturally within spatial and brand design frameworks.
Asia Focused, Globally Proven
While rooted in Asia, we’ve delivered high-impact scent marketing projects in the UK, Dubai, India, Indonesia, Manila, Thailand, Myanmar, China, the US, Australia, and Japan—ensuring consistency at scale with cultural nuance.
Read about how Equal Strategy scented Mondrian Singapore Duxton, Changi Airport Jewel, Johnnie Walker House at Changi Airport, UOB Privilege Banking at MBS Shoppes, the world’s first New Balance experience store in Beijing, Singapore’s first luxury boutique hotel – Naumi, the living breathing rainforest experience at Equarius Hotel, how we scented 25,000 cubic meters within 20 seconds for a pavilion at Shanghai Expo in 2010, and Asia’s first scented drive-through exhibition, Moo Moo Park.
