PMI launches IQOS Curious X Sensorium Piazza installation with Italian design brand SELETTI
Stefano Volpetti, PMI’s President of Smoke-Free Products & Chief Consumer Officer speaks during Milan Design Week about the IQOS Curious X collaboration with SELETTI
Philip Morris International (PMI) has revealed a collaborative installation and interactive platform, IQOS Curious X, as part of Milan Design Week, created in partnership with Italian design firm SELETTI.
The Curious X Sensorium Piazza installation launched on April 7 at the Salone de Mobile design fair and intends to challenge the status quo to realize something truly unexpected for a community of more than 32 million adult smokers who have made the choice to move away from cigarettes.
Open to the public from April 7 to 13, followed by a global tour, the Curious X Sensorium Piazza is a bold reimagination of the traditional Italian Piazza – a multi-sensory space where people meet, converse and connect. The installation bridges the physical world into an unexpected digital dimension where art and technology intertwine to create meaningful and extraordinary interactions, inspired by and featuring the people who visit its space.
The project also marks the debut of the new experiential platform IQOS Curious X, intended to deliver inspiring experiences to the brand’s ever-growing community of adult tobacco consumers, and this will be brought to life through a yearlong collaboration with SELETTI. Curiosity, the engine of creativity and innovation according to the company, is at the heart of the journey experienced by the over 32 million users of IQOS globally.
“Our collaboration with SELETTI is driven by the shared belief that curiosity paves the way to groundbreaking creativity which inspires us to connect, explore new possibilities beyond the limits and challenge the status quo. Being forever curious at IQOS is what ultimately enables our quest for the continuous development of better smoke-free alternatives vs. smoking,” said Stefano Volpetti, PMI’s President of Smoke-Free Products & Chief Consumer Officer.
The IQOS Curious X Piazza becomes an invitation to be curious and is influenced by SELETTI’s mix of classic and contemporary aesthetics, which mirrors the IQOS brand’s passion to evolve beyond the ordinary. Through this multi-platform, physical meets digital installation, where dynamic technologies meet an ever-changing digital canvas molded by real-life interactions, the IQOS Curious X Piazza will transform itself from day to night into an archive of human connections. Paying homage to the bold contrasts and pop reinterpretations typical of SELETTI’s work, while at the same time experimenting with innovative codes, the Piazza experience transforms each guest from spectator to main character.
“(R)evolution is our primary philosophy. It is a philosophy that makes us think in a new way. It is precisely this that has allowed us to involve other product sectors. Creativity is essentially innovation. You always have to do something that no one has ever done before,” added Stefano SELETTI, Creative Director & CEO, SELETTI.
The IQOS Curious X Sensorium Plaza is inspired by an Italian piazza and uses interactive technology to bring visitor photos to life
In conversation with Global Travel Retail Magazine at the event, Volpetti said, “It's always important to look back at our journey of how we started from a vision of realizing a smoke-free future. That was completely challenging the status quo, and this notion of challenging the status quo has brought us to the success of today – we have 32 million adult smokers that switched to IQOS, two thirds of which left cigarettes behind completely.”
It's clear that smoke-free alternatives like IQOS are a better choice for adults that want to continue to use nicotine, explained Volpetti. “This notion of something that has never been done before, something that challenges the status quo offers us an opportunity to go deeper [as a brand] and you try to understand where is the genesis of it all. It’s this incredible curiosity for a company to completely reinvent a category, but also curiosity from the smokers to completely change their routine.
“For PMI, the IQOS Curious X project represents a statement of centrality in its pursuit of curiosity, and its from this theme that progress and innovation stems.
“It is a way for us to not only celebrate the IQOS product, but also our users around the world. And through the courage, the audacity of SELETTI, to reinvent the traditional Italian Piazza, to be a multi-sensorial experience with a combination of technology and art, to completely change that status quo, there is this notion of curiosity at the center of our journey of transformation to be able to realize a smoke-free future.
“The Milan launch has kick started a collaboration with 20 other artists as part of the IQOS Curious X project. The design world is curious to see the outcome this autumn,” he said.
Global Travel Retail Magazine’s Alison Farrington pictured with Stefano Volpetti and Beste Ermaner in front of the IQOS Curious X Sensorium Plaza at Milan Design Week
A take on global travel retail
For the global travel retail market perspective, Beste Ermaner, Vice President Global Travel Retail at PMI, told the publication this project is all about brand building for IQOS and leveraging “GTR’s window to the world” opportunity.
“The IQOS Curious X project will serve both our domestic customers and travelers in global travel retail. It opens a fantastic opportunity, in terms of brand building and delivering a compelling consumer experience,” stated Ermaner.
This project is about how PMI is building its multi-category business in the channel. “We are the leaders of heat-not-burn with IQOS, and that is our biggest smoke-free product category worldwide. However, consumers are evolving, their needs are evolving and there is no longer just one product that can fulfill their needs, so we know we have to offer them a variety of options – for those consumers who wish to switch out from cigarettes," she said.
Beste Ermaner, VP of GTR at PMI tells GTR Magazine about the importance of having a multi-category portfolio in GTR to offer travelers a choice of smoke-free products
Ermaner noted the importance of PMI’s multi-category portfolio in order to offer adult nicotine consumers a choice of smoke-free products: IQOS for heat-not-burn, ZYN for the nicotine pouch offer, VEEV for the e-vapor category. “For example, nicotine pouches are the fastest-growing product category in travel retail,” she added.
According to Ermaner, consumers are extremely open to exploring the channel. “New products, new experiences, like the name of our new platform – they are curious! When traveling, consumers are at the peak of their curiosity in terms of exploring," she explains. "Plus, it’s important to remember, the travel retail environment is a much more premium environment. So, we are also offering a premium experience for consumers."
Ermaner said global travel retail offers scale and an ability for deployment at speed to amplify awareness of both new products in general, also the new brand platform. “IQOS Curious X is a great opportunity to connect with consumers looking for a unique experience, and we will be deploying it wherever we can, further amplifying the consumer awareness,” she concluded.
