TR GO for GOLD awards launch with focus on product and client services
Christine Martin, Founder of TR GO for GOLD awards
A new set of awards, TR GO for GOLD, has been launched by Christine Martin, former Managing Director of Travel Retail Training Ltd and ISPY (Inflight Sales Person of the Year).
“The brands and their products need as much good news as possible as they navigate through these challenging times," said Martin in a statement. "The transparency of these awards is clear for all to see and the knowledge and wide-ranging experience of the judging criteria creators, who also serve as our judges, aims to provide confidence and quality assurance in the value of entering. On the first day of TFWE, buyers will be able to pick up an ‘Award winners map’ to TFWE, which points out those brands who have received a TR GO for GOLD awards certificate and their stand number. Therefore, making the awards a great marketing tool during and post-Cannes”.
The mission of the awards, according to a press release, is “To create an award whose judging criteria that reflects what would attract the attention of a Travel Retail buyer in 2023 in terms of product and client services. Therefore, making the effort that goes into creating a successful awards entry beneficial in terms of future marketing, benchmarking and business growth.”
What differentiates the TR GO for GOLD awards from other industry awards, explains Martin, are the following:
a) These awards set out to recognize excellence and best practice only relating to products and the people who make them successful within the travel retail industry
b) Entries are not competing against each other, instead they are aspiring to ‘Go for Gold’. It is our medium-term goal to develop the judging criteria into an industry recognized standard
c) Bronze, silver and gold certificates will be presented to exhibitors, at their stand on the opening day of the TFWE
d) TR ‘GO for GOLD’ is an awards initiative without an awards ceremony
e) The TR GO for GOLD awards supports TFWA, as eligibility requires the product to be shown within the TFWE and TFWA members will receive a 10% discount on the entry fee of £250 (US$300) plus 20% vat where applicable
d) The ‘Guide to Gold’ created by the category judges, will be made available to all entries
e) To further quality assure these awards, the judging criteria will be sense-checked by a number of retailers
f) The ppt format of the entry form enables brands to use it for additional marketing purposes
h) Only one sample product will be required to accompany each entry
The confirmed judges for these awards are:
Confectionery – Martyn Westbury (formerly MARS), Cosmetics & Suncare – Carolyn Mariani (Formerly DFASS/3Sixty), Fashion - Liz Woodland (formerly Dufry), Spirits – Kristiane Sherry (formerly Frontier Magazine), Jewelry – David Butler (formerly Pandora), Time pieces– Viola Denke (formerly Gebr. Heinemann), Sunglasses – Luca Molin (formerly Dufry), Electronics – Anna Berezhneyer (formerly Hanse Distribution), Travel Accessories – Jonathan Smith (formerly Travel Blue), Above and Beyond (individual and team awards) – Marcus Griffin (formerly Dufry Americas)
“A huge amount of work has gone into creating the framework for these awards and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my esteemed group of judges, whose commitment to creating a quality assured and transparent judging criteria, and the product category and people ‘Guides to Gold’ has been invaluable and the retailers who have added another level of quality assurance by sense-checking the judging criteria," added Martin.
The opening date for awards entry submission is April 3 and closing date is June 2. For further information, contact Christine Martin: CustomerService@trgoforgoldawards.com
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