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A Disneyland in Every Mall?
Shopping center marketing professionals know all about experiential marketing. Get shoppers into your mall, get them having a good time, and get them to remember it. It's the bread and butter of shopping center events. But now retailers are taking a cue from you.
As reported by the New York Times this week, The Walt Disney Company is passing over the batten-down-the-hatches approach favored by many retailers, and is planning a massive overhaul of its 340 retail stores in North America and Europe. The new stores will be designed by Apple's retailing unit, and will be entertainment extravaganzas.
From the article:
"Theaters will allow children to watch film clips of their own selection, participate in karaoke contests or chat live with Disney Channel stars via satellite. Computer chips embedded in packaging will activate hidden features. Walk by a “magic mirror” while holding a Princess tiara, for instance, and Cinderella might appear and say something to you.
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Disney will adopt Apple touches like mobile checkout (employees will carry miniature receipt printers in their aprons) and the emphasis on community (Disney’s theater idea is an extension of Apple’s lecture spaces). The focus on interactivity — parents will be able to book a Disney Cruise on touch-screen kiosks while their children play — reflects an Apple hallmark."
Certainly, it's an extension of the Apple Store concept, but it's one that could be a great boon for the malls that house Disney Stores. If it gets kids into the mall, it gets their parents too. And as more retailers hop on this trend, malls that don't have the over-the-top theme parks, beaches and aquariums that some of the big names offer will find themselves in position to be seen as entertainment destinations. There's an opportunity worth nurturing and watching out for.
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Spooky Shopping
Halloween at the mall is usually for the little ones, but this season offers some fun opportunities for grown-ups, too.
CrownGate Shopping Centre recently played host to a horde of zombies in celebration of World Zombie Day. The shopping center took part in the Worcester Zombie Walk, a costumed charity walk that raised funds for the National Association of Bikers with a Disability and the ME Association. A hundred zombies stumbled through the shopping center one morning, adding a little October fright to the Sunday shopping experience.
There are practical limits to the possibilities of costumed adults in the mall, of course, but a well-controlled event that doesn’t overlap trick-or-treating could give shoppers a fun experience they wouldn’t soon forget.
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Unwrapping the Christmas Season
There are a lot of ways to launch the Christmas shopping season, but Coquitlam Centre has come up with a particularly fun one.
The first of what is to be an annual event, Unwrapped is a charity shopping night that's sure to succeed. For the cost of one of a limited number of $10 tickets (sold by charities that keep the profits), shoppers can skip the usually holiday lines for some late night shopping. Most of the center’s retailers have signed on to offer substantial discounts and deals for the evening.
But on top of the typical charity night deals, shoppers get a very nice Christmas shopping experience. Christmas music and entertainment will abound. Shoppers will be treated to holiday food and drinks from local restaurants, and wine tastings from local wineries. Santa will be on hand for photos, and the center’s gift-wrappers will be making a late night of it too. There will be a winter fashion show, and prizes will be given out throughout the night.
Honestly though, the thought of a quiet night at the mall without the crowds and lineups will probably be a big enough draw on its own. The rest is just the icing on the fruitcake.
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Searching for Christmas Fun
The Stafford Gatehouse Theatre is putting on a performance of Cinderella this winter, giving local retailers a great opportunity for simple bit of cross-promotion.
Ten shops around Stafford have slipped glass slippers into their window displays. Shoppers will have a month to find the ten slippers during their shopping excursions. If they find them all, they can enter a draw to win a family ticket to a performance of Cinderella. The draw will take place during the Christmas Light Switch On event at Guildhall Shopping Center.
It’s a simple promotion, but it does a great job of bringing the community together. And that’s one of the best things about the Christmas season.
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Reader Profile: Michelle Moffitt
Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Should we be writing about you? Let us know.
Name: Michelle Moffitt
Title: Marketing Manager
Property: The Chimes Shopping Centre
Location: Uxbridge West London, UK
How long have you been at this center?
I have been at The Chimes for just over 3 years.
How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry?
I am in my 10th year of working in the fashion and retail industry. Having started in FMCG, moving into wholesale fashion and then retail.
What have you found to be the most effective strategies to promote new retailers?
With few retailer changes we have had limited exposure to promoting new retailers. On the few occasions we have had new stores, we focused on the PR angle: linking with media partners on large value prizes backed by strong in-centre and digital exposure. Effectiveness can often depend on the retailers resources but we add value and promote as actively as we can.
Click here for more of Michelle's thoughts on promoting retailers.
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Insider’s Tip of the Week: John Bacon
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 John Bacon, Managing Partner of Converge Marketing Group:
"The beauty of social mediums like Twitter and Facebook is that they create opportunities for shopping centers to engage their customers, both on and off your property. But in so many cases, shopping centers are using social media as an electronic billboard to simply tout sales and events and forgetting that these tools can create conversations, drive traffic and, ultimately, increase shopper loyalty. Just a few examples:
It's Visual - Don't just tell people, show them. Pictures of events, great buys at your retailers or the crowds of people waiting to see the latest movie are interesting and enticing. Many users are mobile so encourage your fans and followers to post pictures from your center as well.
It's Inviting - Drive traffic to specific retailers with special contests. For example, send a Tweet saying that the first 10 people who show up at your selected retailer and say "I want a Tweet deal" receive a special coupon or gift with purchase.
It's a Community - Host a Tweet-up or Facebook friends gathering at one of your restaurants. Then use this opportunity to ask your biggest and best fans what they like and don't like. You'll find people actually like communicating as much in real life as they do online."
Want to know more?
Call John at 480.215.0873.
You can also e-mail John or visit Converge Marketing Group online at www.ConvergeMarketingGroup.com.
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7-11 Flirts With Advergames
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.
7-11 is spicing up its image with a new viral advergame, The 711 Club (note: we haven’t vetted all the possible encounters, but everything we saw was safe for work, if a bit noisy).
You arrive at a hot new Brazilian club, looking for someone to share a good time with. You give them all your best (worst) lines, impress them with your dancing skills (a clever implementation of a rhythm mini-game), and if you’re successful, you take them home. Suddenly, you wake up, next to a hot Brazilian…Bold coffee. In this case, getting lucky is getting a coupon for your own free coffee.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good, non-YouTube advergame, but 7-11 got it right here, and is reaping some positive attention for its effort.
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Wrexham’s ‘Magnificent Seven’
Cause Marketing: Cause Marketing is the art of combining your commercial brand with a non-profit issue. Cause marketing campaigns have years of history and range from relatively superficial tactical partnerships, to long-term, strategic alliances that penetrate deeply into business and nonprofit organizations.
As part of a campaign spearheaded by Eagles Meadow manager Kevin Critchley, Wrexham has chosen seven local heroes to honor.
The locals include a paramedic, an emergency nurse, a university lecturer, a police officer, a cafe worker, a taxi driver and volunteer, and a photographer for the local sports team. These are the ordinary people who work hard to make Wrexham a great place to live, according to the people that nominated and chose them.
Photos of these local heroes will be displayed around town as part of the “We Love Wrexham” campaign, which aims to tell the world what Wrexham has to offer.
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October 15, 2009
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tactics magazine
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Conestoga Mall got creative, fine arts style, for its grand opening campaign.
Read about it in the next edition of Tactics Magazine.
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Wendy Liebmann offers her early forecast on the 2009 holiday season in Marketing Trendz.
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Our 2009 advertising rate card is now online.
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Have a story idea? Looking to submit your mall's event or program for publication? Do you have burning ideas about our print publications? Want to let us know your comments on this weekly newsletter?
Whatever's on your mind, Shopping Center Weekly editor Nissa Campbell would like to hear from you.
So, please keep your emails coming - send your messages to the Editor.
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