Greek Oxygen; more than thin air
Now, you can take Greek Oxygen home.
A keychain, a fridge magnet or a small statue may fail to embody memories from a great holiday. If only you could take the atmosphere, the ambience home with you then picking out memorabilia would be a non-issue. Turns out, you can. You can buy a conveniently and elegantly packed can of Greek Oxygen.
The company launched the product in June 2016. The idea was simple. “We wanted to create a product that contained the blue of the sea and the sky, the culture and history of Greece. Anastasios Mpatsilas, founder of the company, wanted to sell something entirely different than what was available to visitors at the time, because they want something different,” Ifigeneia Vlahogianni, head of Greek Oxygen’s Marketing and part of it since its inception, told us.
At the time, news of Chinese and Indian consumers buying Canadian and Australian breaths of air was making the rounds. South Korea and Maine have joined in, but few companies are selling air as a souvenir. Local businesses from New York, Paris and Budapest are selling air. An Etsy shop bottling air from Berlin, London, Riga, Singapore, Barcelona, Curacao and many more exists since 2012.
It took a year to take the concept from the drawing board to the market. It only took another year for the company to seal deals with key retailers around Greece.
“We mostly sell through our online shop, but we have started a campaign with hotels, resorts and cruise ships. Our product is available in Crete, Rhodes, Santorini, Kefalonia and many more. In Kefalonia alone we closed deals with 12 hotels this month and we are in the process of establishing connections with retailers abroad,” Ifigeneia informed us.
If this success baffles you, here is how Ifigeneia explains it.
“Our brand is what matters, and our brand is symbolic. It is innovative and humorous. Of course, we don’t go to Olympus to gather air. The air, naturally, finds its way in the cans and we just seal them. The can is easy to transport and safe. Nothing will happen to it in a suitcase or in an airplane. Even a small child can keep it and you can easily gift it to someone at home.
“People crave innovation in souvenirs. Because of this, we can create the market. Tourism and culture are interconnected, and these elements are what set us apart as Greeks. What we can do is promote these elements.”
The extent to which a can of air symbolizes Greek culture than a miniature of the Acropolis is up to debate. But I think the point is this. When you are buying a souvenir you want to somehow take home a piece of the place you visited. In reality though, what you are de facto and unwillingly taking home is your memories of that place. A souvenir is merely a physical manifestation of what is already in your head. It might as well be as abstract as thin air.
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