Viral Marketing: Also known as Word of Mouth Advertising. Any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, thus creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Just like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, even to millions.

What could be more romantic than a proposal on Main Street in Disneyland, brought to you by your beloved and a cast of singing performers?

Well, a lot of things, maybe, but that’s how Disney is promoting its Summer Nightastic! celebrations. The video is fueling the hearts of romantics everywhere, and the minds of skeptics, too. Is it a real proposal? Clearly there are Disneyland cast members involved, but is the happy couple acting, too?

That blurry line of reality is what keeps people coming back. It’s a true and tested tactic for viral advertising, as viewers never seem to tire of wondering “is this real?” What do you think? And does the chance of seeing a moment like this make you want to visit “The Happiest Place on Earth”?

Canadian shopping center Vaughan Mills has launched another great web promotion with Style Agents. Agents Janette Ewan and Afiya Fransisco star in a web series on fashion trends; topics covered so far include how to mix patterns safely, how to get away with bold colours, and how to keep on budget during a summer full of weddings and social events.

The web series is pretty informative, and Vaughan Mills is doing its best to create a comprehensive social media package to go with it. Each video is accompanied by a blog post from each of the Style Agents. The Agents also have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts that shoppers can follow for more tips, and the videos are available on iTunes as podcasts. And, of course, every aspect of the campaign points back to Vaughan Mills retailers where appropriate.

Simon’s Town Center at Aurora is working with local public high schools and elementary schools to help shoppers support them with cash awards. We’ve seen promotions of this type a few times before: shoppers pledge their shopping dollars to a school of their choice. Those dollars are tallied into points, and the schools with the most points get cash for programs they wouldn’t otherwise be able to fund. It’s a nice win-win partnership.

What’s different about this initiative is that academic achievement counts too. Along with the usual (each dollar spent up to $250 counts as one point, each dollar over $250 counts as 2), students can help their schools by bringing in college acceptance letters (500 points), transcripts showing GPAs of 3.0 or higher (350 points), report cards with A grades (250 per A), and good attendance records (200 points). Giving kids an extra reason to work hard, while still getting them into the mall, makes this good promotion even better.

If you’re like many of our readers, one of your mall’s big challenges is finding creative ways to fill vacancies. Queen Street Mall has come up with a great one.

The Australian shopping center has launched a new website: Follow the Fashion. The site allows fashion designers to upload photos of their work to virtual storefronts, which can then be voted on by the public. The designers of the five most popular store fronts will provide a small collection of their designs to a panel of industry judges, who will choose one to be awarded a six-month lease at the mall, including operating costs, a store fit-out, and marketing assistance.

Voters are also rewarded with the chance to win instant prize vouchers and a grand prize of a $10,000 shopping spree. The initiative is being promoted across the web, in the mall, and on the street – with a “designer in a box” street display. And the site helps out existing retailers, too, throwing in specials and deals amongst the new storefronts. Kudos to the folks Queen Street Mall for this one.

It’s almost the Fourth of July, and Al Moana Center is celebrating Independence Day in style.

Not only is the Hawaiian shopping center the sole sponsor and organizer of the state’s largest fireworks competition, it’s also got a two-day, multi-stage entertainment extravaganza, with music, dancing and more. The shopping center is also offering a 20% off shopping pass to shoppers through its website, which they can use for discounts at 60 retailers.

Of course, all this might be easier for one of America’s most profitable malls. We’d love to hear how your mall is celebrating the holiday, if you’re American (or Canada Day, for our Canadian readers). Let us know in the comments.

Westfield Derby has a fun promotion going right now that encourages shoppers to try as many of their eateries as possible.

To participate in The Big Eat, shoppers can pick up a stamp card from customer service or from any of the mall’s eateries. Each time they spend £1.99 or more at one of the restaurants, they get a stamp. With 5 stamps, they can claim a free treat from a handful of eateries, like a free coffee, a soda or a snack. 10 gets them £10 off. 15 is a free meal. And one lucky winner will get an overnight trip into the city and dinner at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

The UK shopping center is also offering a special prize to the first participant to eat at all 31 of its eateries. A summer food passport seems like a great way to remind people of your mall’s tasty variety of food retailers and get them coming back for more.

Each week, we feature tips from industry insiders. Have a tip to share with our readers? Let us know.

This week’s tip comes to us from Tiffany Bourré, Senior Account Director at The Idea Workshop:

“Everybody is buzzing about social media.  Status updates, fan pages and tweets have marketers wondering how to capitalize on this wildly popular and rapidly growing trend.  One of the most common questions I get asked by clients is, “How do we use social media to reach our consumers?”
Before you start randomly tweeting about sales and promotions or posting photos to Facebook, it’s important to have a social media strategy and integrate it into your public relations and communications plan.  Social media has a purpose, but it isn’t a catch-all for every message you want to communicate.  Depending on the type of social media you are using, your audience will be looking for different types of information, which will ultimately keep them engaged, informed and coming back for more.
So how do you make this happen?  Start looking at what your followers are interested in.  Do they follow specific trends or celebrities?  What groups do they belong to?  What news are they sharing with their communities?  If you find out what’s important to them, and can add to that, they’ll start sharing your info with their own followers.
One of the key principals of social media— and one of the hardest for marketers to wrap their heads around—is that social media is not about what they want to say, it’s about what their audience wants to hear.  Learning to align yourself with what is relevant to your consumers, and using that information to interact, will define whether you are simply jumping on the bandwagon or actually leading the pack.”

Want to know more?

Call Tiffany at 416.504.3977 ext. 28 or email her. You can also visit The Idea Workshop online at www.IdeaWorkshop.ca.

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Know someone we should be writing about? Let us know.

Name: Dani Boisclair
Title: Promotional Director
Property: Les Galeries du Cap
Location: Trois-Rivières, Canada

How long have you been at this property?
I have been with the Plaza Group since 2005.

How many years of experience do you have in the shopping center industry?
Four years.

What is your primary goal this year?
To exploit the advantages of shopping at a community-based mall and encouraging local merchants in this struggling economy. It’s simple and practical! No-fuss parking, easy highway access, a wide-variety of stores to serve all needs and knowing that the money spent here remains in the community.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Strengthening our position in a very competitive market by offering destination stores as well as creating younger customer loyalty.

Do you plan to revamp your shopping center’s holiday décor this year?
Not this year, simply because we’ve been revamping it over the past two years. We usually do our outdoor decorations one year and then our indoor decorations the following year. We also had a new Santa’s Village built a couple of years ago.

What is your approach to décor planning? Do you always order new décor that’s been specially designed for your center, or do you rely on generic decorations or even possibly refurbished décor?
We do a bit of both. Some are generic decorations, like our outdoor decorations as well as the mall decorations. However, when it comes to Santa’s Village or the Easter Farm, these are custom made for our center.

Can you offer one tip to other mall marketing professionals?
Holiday shopping is something that can have a negative connotation with people being so busy at this time of year and seeing gift hunting as more of a chore. We like to create an ambiance that enables us to become more than just a shopping center with stores. We want people to come to the center and feel good about being here. We want to create a memorable experience, a place of gathering that goes beyond the products customers have come to purchase.

Thanks Dani!

Real estate investment trusts are recovering
Herald Tribune, US
Real estate investment trusts have long been touted as good portfolio diversifiers because they typically do not move in lock-step with other financial markets. But REITs have hardly been impervious to the recent debacle on Wall Street. By early March, returns on property-owning REITs had plunged an average of 75 percent from their peak in February 2007 …

Marvellous day for a moonwalk in tribute to Jackson
Northampton Chronicle & Echo
More than 500 fans screamed and cheered as Michael Jackson tribute artist Navi performed for them outside Weston Favell Shopping Centre in tribute to the late King of Pop. Families arrived in droves to see the act on Saturday, the appeal of which clearly crossed the generation divide, with toddlers and grandparents alike tapping their feet and singing along to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits …

Shopping centre ads more effective than car parks
B & T, AU
A survey of outdoor advertising has found that ads in shopping centres are more memorable, relevant and influential than those placed in car parks. The Survey Sampling International research carried out on behalf of outdoor firm Eye, showed ads placed in shopping centres were three times more memorable, four times more relevant and influential and eight times more likely to encourage trust and value in brands than those found in car parks …

Summer spenders get cold feet
The News & Observer, US
As consumers get ready to celebrate July Fourth, many merchants already have dismissed summer as a washout. Macy’s flagship store has racks of summer tops, swimwear and dresses marked down as much as 50 percent, while luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman is slashing prices on designer goods by as much as 70 percent …

European June Retail Sales Decline for 13th Month, PMI Shows
Bloomberg, US
European retail sales declined in June for a 13th month as the region’s worst recession in more than half a century and rising unemployment curbed household spending, the Bloomberg purchasing managers index showed …

Live models on display at Foothills Mall
News 4, US
The marketing team at the Foothills Mall says it’s time to try something different. They’re conducting a one day experiment by displaying live models in retail store window …

U.S. News has compiled the results of recent investment research data to establish a list of the ten most and least profitable malls in America. Their results are based on occupancy rates and sales per square foot.

It would be interesting to see a more in-depth analysis of the reasons behind these success stories and struggles, but the articles do touch on some causes, like local population, access to transportation, and retailer mix. Take a look:

On America’s Most Profitable Malls:

“While bargain shopping is obviously popular, the nation’s most profitable shopping centers generally don’t rely on discounters. Instead, they tend to feature chains with a strong brand identity, like Nordstrom, Abercrombie & Fitch, Apple, and Anthropologie. Since it’s all about real estate, location is vital: The best malls tend to be in densely populated areas or tourist hotspots. And it sure helps if local residents are affluent …”

And on the “Most Endangered” malls:

“The first sign of trouble is often the departure of department stores and other anchor tenants, especially if those spaces stay vacant. High-quality, name-brand merchants often follow, with discounters—or nobody—replacing them. Shoppers sense the ennui, and gravitate toward malls that feel more vibrant, which only deepens the distress at troubled properties. By some estimates, about 10 percent of the America’s malls could close within the next few years …”

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
Albert Einstein
(1879 – 1955)