According to Amanda Rabinowitz-Muller, director and founder of JellyBean Concept Events, shopping mall marketing teams, together with events agencies, are creating new and unique ways to involve tenants in their marketing strategies.
Interactive storefronts
Vacant stores are on the rise and it is a leasing managers nightmare to keep these stores from looking empty. Use this as an opportunity to showcase a scene. The scene could be related to anything, whether it be Easter, Christmas, etc. Use tenants to sponsor various elements.
Bring on an events agency to pull this together, style the shop fronts (a very underestimated but hugely time-intensive job) and perhaps throw in some live actors behind the glass to really give your shoppers a reason to stop and stare. This is a perfectly Covid-19 safe experience for shoppers of all ages to enjoy. Take it a step further and add a competition element to this experience. Get shoppers to spot an item, snap a selfie or notice something unique. Do not forget to showcase where the sponsored items can be purchased by clearly marking who the sponsoring tenants are.
Tenant promotion videos using a particular holiday or special date
Create a social media video surrounding a particular holiday or occasion while involving tenants who offer the perfect gift linked with that holiday or occasion. Portray the journey of a shopper as they spend the day in the mall by showcasing their top picks of the season.
Use this opportunity to promote different stores for different occasions and holidays, including Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter and more. Get creative with various storylines such as ‘The cool kid’s guide to X shopping centre’ or ‘A mom’s day out’. Shoppers are engaging with their social media now more than ever and marketing teams are needing to create ways to bring shoppers back into the mall.
Spend and win is here to stay
Place your twist on the classic spend-and-win campaign with these out-of-the-box options that provide massive opportunities for tenant involvement:
- Shoppers need to spend X at a store between Y and Z date in order to play the game.
- Spend X amount and receive a free service i.e. receive free custom gift wrapping after spending at the mall.
- Spend X and enter into a grand draw to win a shopping spree.
Free branding opportunities
Link up an activation with a tenant who can sponsor the product or get involved in some way. Provide them with free branding opportunities, including banners, signage or logos without too much spend from their end. Involve coffee shops or bakeries to set up pop up stands or ‘waiting zones’ outside the activation or hand out vouchers to help bring foot traffic to their stores.
Media drops
Use tenants to get involved in sponsoring products that are sent to social media influencers to promote on their various platforms. Using an activations/events agency to assist with the sourcing and communication of the appropriate influencers to your shopper target market (this is a make or break) and handle the packing and couriering of boxes. This is a perfect way to showcase various tenants’ products to the public in an organic and unobtrusive way. Never underestimate the power of social media.
