Blueprint scoops Denmark’s prestigious Gazelle award
Blueprint partners Karl Walter, Sonja Soskic and Thomas Kaneko Henningsen celebrate the Gazelle award
Business development consultancy Blueprint – a specialist in the travel retail channel – expanded its client list to over 60 companies (up from 50 in 2023) and claimed a Gazelle, a prestigious award from Denmark’s leading financial newspaper BØRSEN.
Only 0.9% of Danish registered companies qualify for the accolade, which companies can’t apply for. The award first introduced in 1995, is based on six different criteria, including financials. And like a gazelle, speed and adaptability have been critical to Blueprint’s success.
The team has completed a two-year transformation during which it piloted new knowledge-transfer capabilities, taking stakes in some of the companies it supports; and piloted a dynamic three-partner governance structure.
“Winning the Gazelle award matters,” said Sonja Soskic, Partner at Blueprint. “To make it through the Covid years and deliver 260% increase in 2024 revenue versus 2019 revenue is a heartfelt win. The award celebrates the team’s achievements, and it is an honor to be recognized by BØRSEN.”
Blueprint Partner Karl Walter added, “As with many businesses in travel retail, the COVID years were not easy to navigate. That period encouraged us to step outside our comfort zone. It forced us to ask ourselves what value we bring to the table and why we exist in the first place. Looking back, our first reality-check in 2020 was that the status quo was no more. At the time, it felt like being lost in a dense forest, but standing still doesn’t get you out of the trees – only moving forward will.
“We chose a direction based on gut feeling and invested valuable resources with every single step, whether right or wrong – learning by doing if you like. Today, we have learned to embrace experimentation. We keep an open mind on our way to success. If we fail, we want to fail fast and succeed faster, and in doing both we are constantly learning and finding out what is scalable and what’s not.”
Delivering for an ambitious clientele
“As we enter year nine as a business development consultancy, we will continue to service airports, operators and brands in Europe, Middle East, APAC and North America with tailor-made solutions,” said Walter. “From insight workshops and trend analysis to commercial strategies, go-to-market planning and best practice sparring, we will continue to provide the industry with travel retail knowledge transfer.
Soskic noted how Blueprint’s two-year transformation process “has strengthened our core capabilities and enhanced the team’s overall ability to evolve faster. This process has been necessary as it prepares us for the rapid and intense changes travel retail is facing the coming years.”
Accelerated industry evolution
Thomas Kaneko Henningsen, Blueprint’s third partner, added, “The travel retail industry is no stranger to change. What’s new is the speed and intensity of change have accelerated to a level where it requires industry stakeholders to revisit the travel retail playbook. What worked yesterday will not work the coming years. We truly believe megatrends including artificial intelligence, social media algorithms and younger travelers are transforming the travel retail experience as we know it.”
He said Blueprint now welcomes a wider range of clients and business partners “because they encourage us to think differently”.
“Every single time we take on industry-first projects, it enables Blueprint to evolve in new directions. It may be a painful process at times, but it is highly necessary. One could argue that the harder the project, the more we rely on critical thinking and extraordinary capabilities to cross the finish line. This process encourages us to constantly evolve.”
According to Kaneko-Henningsen, the recipe of Blueprint’s success is simple, “it is people driven”. “We only take on clients and business partners we truly believe in. It is a privilege to work with people who are totally committed, capable and trustworthy – success is a team sport.”
Blueprint remains a small yet highly effective team comprising of partners and associates. The three partners alone have more than 45 years of travel retail experience having supported airports, operators and brands throughout Europe, Middle East, APAC and North America. Company associates provide critical day-to-day support when it comes to forecasting, trend analysis, content creation, graphic design and much more. The company is a member of major travel retail associations including NTRG in the Nordics, ACI Europe and also a member of APTRA in Asia Pacific.
“Our ambition is not to become the biggest consultancy in travel retail,” Walter added. “What keeps us going is building relevant partnerships based on mutual trust, authenticity and positive energy. This has to flow both ways between us, clients and business partners, particularly when taking on industry-first projects.”
