Spend a workday with… Blueprint’s Thomas Kaneko Henningsen

Thomas Kaneko Henningsen.

Thomas Kaneko Henningsen joined the travel retail industry in 2000 and today is Partner at business development consultancy Blueprint. Here, he gives us a glimpse of a typical workday, from client deliverables to lunchtime runs on the beach…

AM

My day starts between 5-6am sending a text message to my dad and sister. We check-in every morning and evening, confirming everyone is well – a tradition that we have kept going for years now.

Next is a quick cold shower, checking emails while watching news followed by a workout session. Around 6:30am I have the greatest pleasure of serving coffee, a veggie/fruit smoothie and breakfast to my lady and our son.

I travel frequently as Blueprint continues to scale our consulting business throughout Europe, Middle East, North America and APAC regions with airports, brands, retailers and distributors.

When travelling we document best practice in travel retail, meet up with industry stakeholders and exchange perspectives on how the channel is evolving. I joined the industry back in 2000 and I am grateful for interacting with smart people from all over the world. It is a true blessing and has enriched my life in so many ways.

Lunch

Our office is based in the heart of Copenhagen. We are part of an entrepreneurial office community, always buzzing with energy.

The past decade Copenhagen has evolved into a heaven for foodies so there’s no shortage of great lunches.

When working from home, I do extra workout sessions combined with walking or running on the beach where I live with my family. The refreshing air, open sky, dramatic sea and soft sand are an ideal setting for reflecting on new business opportunities.

Luckily, we have this wonderful Japanese restaurant on the beach where we invite business partners to join us for lunch.

Thomas Kaneko Henningsen with fellow Blueprint Partner Karl Walter at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

PM

Touch-bases with teammates and clients take place throughout the day. As business development consultants, we have a wide range of client deliverables to manage, from go-to-market strategies to business cases, commercial negotiations to insight workshops, trend research, public speaking, leadership sparring and investing in companies.

A mission critical part of our work is exploring how the travel retail channel will develop the coming years so that we can identify commercial opportunities and develop relevant solutions.

Blueprint believes that consumer behaviour in travel retail is shaped by critical trends like Gen Z, digitalisation, personalisation, sustainability and experience-driven retail ushering in a new era as we speak.

Wrapping up the day

My favourite part of the day is enjoying a great meal with the family. Home cooking or a take-away meets heart-to-heart talks about what happened during the day. These are magical moments I really look forward to.