Smart Project and drinks brand owners deliver online training for Russian airport retail staff

06.05.2020

RUSSIA. Don’t let a health crisis get in the way of staff training. That was the defiant message from Russian marketing agency Smart Project, which recently facilitated online training sessions for the employees of duty free stores across key airports in Russia. The tuition was delivered by representatives of alcohol beverage companies including Abrau-Durso Russian Wine House, Rémy Cointreau, Whyte & Mackay and Baron Philippe de Rothschild.

The first intake included 145 employees of retailers Dufry/RegStaer and Imperial Duty Free, based at international airports including Moscow Sheremetyevo, Moscow Vnukovo, Moscow Domodedovo and Mineralnye Vody.

On 29 April, Smart Project teamed up with Whyte & Mackay to organise a guest presentation by the latter’s Master Blender, Richard Paterson.

Whisky authority: Whyte & Mackay Master Blender Richard Paterson delivers his online presentation to the duty free employees of Russian airports

Paterson – recognised as one of the most influential people in the world of whisky – has worked for Whyte & Mackay for more than 50 years. He delivered his online talk on the whisky category to duty free employees across airports in Moscow, Kazan, Vyborg and Vladivostok.

Smart Project CEO Nadezhda Emelianenko said: “I will always repeat that the greatest value of any company is its employees. Their professionalism and involvement in the business processes is one of the main factors in the success of the company.

“At this difficult moment, Smart Project, together with our partners, continues to invest time and money in staff training. Now we are developing our debugged training programmes and launching them in a new distance format.”

Moscow-headquartered Smart Project said it has further online training sessions set up for May, to be delivered by perfume brand owners represented in Russian duty free stores. These include Perfume Holding, a manufacturer of perfumes and cosmetics in the lifestyle, prestige and niche segments.