Why achieving overnight success in global travel retail takes 20 years – Comment

When Pokémon Go landed in 2016, it felt like lightning in a bottle. Within weeks, nearly 8% of the world had downloaded it. An instant phenomenon.Except it wasn’t.Its creator, Satoshi Tajiri, is often linked with the quote: “It takes 20 years to become an overnight success.” In reality, it takes years, sometimes decades, of graft.The global travel retail channel works the same way.From the outside, it’s theatre. Big builds. Flashing screens. Queues for tastings. But theatre only works if the script was written long before opening night. The brands that cut through in airports are rarely i