Page 23 - IAADFS Summit of the Americas 2025 Special Issue

INSIDER
INSIDER

Propelle + Konnect brought these activations to life at JFK Terminal 4 (left) and Las Vegas (right).

they must successfully pass with a certain marketing campaigns, auto shows. And cities, including Toronto, New York, San
percentage in order to stay within our talent then I got very lucky, because travel retail Francisco, and Los Angeles.
pool. It covers things like sales objectives, found me. And we’ve been in travel retail And the company has plans to expand
overcoming obstacles, knowing how to for 14 years.” to more cities and airports in travel retail.
turn a no into a yes. So it allows people to Grodd’s first travel retail client was “We have our sights on Miami. We
educate themselves prior to even starting. locally at Vancouver International Airport. do a lot in the domestic market, but we
“For us the biggest challenge is trying “We quickly found out that Mandarin would really love to see ourselves in Miami
to find people that are going to come to speaking ambassadors would be much Airport. That’s hopefully on the horizon
life on the floor. And do they understand more suited and less Pretty Kitty style. We this year. Hawaii is also on our radar. I’m
the nuance of travel retail? Sometimes the rebranded to PK Promotions and Staffing. big on not growing too fast either. I think
passenger only has a small bag to carry, That’s where the shift in our business it’s really important to be able to maintain
how are you going to get them to buy that began. Now we have PK Promotions, and quality. I still interview every single person
really expensive bottle of cognac that’s then we have Propelle + Konnect, which is who comes to the agency to work for us,
really heavy that’s not going to fit in their our U.S. entity.” because I really want them to be connected
bag? Training can help them overcome Today Propelle + Konnect runs to us and understand our values, and then
such challenges.” its business from its headquarters in understand the values of our customers. We
Vancouver, but has an office in Santa Ana, want to make sure that we scale at the right
From Pretty Kitty to Propelle + Konnect California, and account managers in key level.”
Overcoming challenges has been part
of the Propelle + Konnect journey since its
beginnings 16 years ago, says Grodd.
Grodd started out working as a promo
model and saw first-hand that there was a
gap in the market for well-trained staffing.
“Back in the day there were promo
models. I was working on campaigns,
and realized that there was a real lack of Propelle + Konnect provided brand
training, and I felt like we were selling ambassadors for Givenchy at
sex, not selling products. And I remember Montreal Duty Free to help captivate
thinking that there’s got to be a better way the senses of travelers passing
to promote these products. So I started the through YUL Montreal-Trudeau
company, and picked a cute little name. Internationsl Airport.
It was called Pretty Kitty then. That was
where we started,” says Grodd.
“In the beginning it was a lot of door
knocking and getting out there and working
events myself to gain customers. The first
couple years were just trade shows, guerilla

23 March 2025 Summit of the Americas