News

JCDecaux Airport has revealed new insight into the power of the airport to drive results for brands, unveiling new ‘The Luxury of Choice’ research into the purchasing habits of the most affluent passengers. The study underlines the opportunity to influence these passengers through brand-building activity, leveraging the importance placed on brand values, authenticity and quality by an elite audience that is not constrained by budget.  

The research was unveiled at a briefing event held on 18th March in London, hosted by Richard Simkins, Commercial and Partnerships Director at JCDecaux Airport , introducing guest speakers: Fraser Brown, Retail Director of Heathrow and Adam Garrity, Head of Global OOH, dentsu. Presenters also included:  JCDecaux’s Head of Marketing Laura Tanner, Director of Data & Insight Chris Felton and Head of Sales, Client & Agency, Lucy Biddiss.

An audience of over 100 airport planners, buyers and clients attended the session which deployed JCDecaux Airport’s new brand positioning that the airport is ‘Where the world’s best brands take off’.   

JCDecaux’s ‘Luxury of Choice’ insight polled 400 passengers defined as either Business Decision Makers (BDM) or High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) with an annual income of £100k+ or £500k investable assets. The study asked them about their purchase decisions. All were regular flyers.

Key findings include: 

• 97% of Business Decision Makers consider multiple brands before purchase.
• 95% of High Net Worth Individuals consider multiple brands before purchase.

Despite having an intention to spend and few budgetary constraints, the study found HNWI and BDM want to ‘shop around’ before purchasing to make sure they are making the best decision – they have ‘the luxury of choice’.  

Brand reputation and brand value were found to be two of the three key drivers for both groups. While Business Decision Makers prize quality and reliability, perhaps surprisingly, HNWI name price in their top three drivers, showing that even the wealthiest people like to know they’ve made a wise choice.  Brand strength is therefore key for both groups. 

The airport is the ultimate showcase for getting your brand front of mind, reaching an elite audience, delivering brand building, influencing consideration and driving conversion in a luxury retail environment. Benefiting from new data-driven and programmatic capabilities  and high quality Out-of-Home sites, the airport is where advertisers can reach the most affluent and influential consumers. Our insight shows the key role that brand strength plays in shaping the purchase decisions of these High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) and the Business Decision Makers (BDM).  And there’s more of them than ever - passenger numbers  are rising globally and Heathrow had a record year in 2024. Another proofpoint of why the airport is where the world’s best brands take off.

Richard Simkins

Commercial and Partnerships Director at JCDecaux Airport

The new ‘Luxury of Choice’ insight adds to the earlier  ‘First Class Advertising – the Enduring Magic of Airports’, study by Ipsos across 14 JCDecaux markets that found passengers welcomed advertising and have positive perceptions of it and importantly perceive those brands advertising in the airport environment, to be “global”, “trustworthy”, “successful” and showing “innovation”.