To Goodwill
Sep 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By John Egan
Connecting with the community doesn't necessarily have to mean donating. It could also be as simple as raising awareness and engaging consumers. For example, in August, at 150 malls nationwide, Chicago-based General Growth Properties launched the six-week UR Vote Counts campaign. The program, whose “spokesgirl” is Disney star Selena Gomez, educates teens about national and world issues, and encourages them to cast their mock votes for U.S. president. As part of the campaign's charity element, teens can select which nonprofit organization will receive a $15,000, $7,500 or $2,500 donation from General Growth Properties. The participants received offers for giveaways and retail promotions. They were also eligible for a $5,000 General Growth shopping spree.
Common cause
When devising marketing strategies and figuring out how to create and foster local communities, one of the most important steps is identifying the shopping center's core customers.
To that end, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Macerich Co., knew that women were the vast majority of the shoppers at its centers. But it didn't know exactly what the women in its markets were looking for. So the company conducted focus groups at five of its malls. The conclusion: Women were starving for networking opportunities that contain a do-good component.
Based on that information, Macerich teamed up with the nonprofit Step Up Women's Network in establishing the Step Out Step Up program. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit's goal is to strengthen community resources for women and girls through promoting health, education and well being.
In May women gathered at more than 60 of Macerich's properties for Step Out Step Up initiatives. At one center, that included a mother-daughter breakfast where volunteers also filled 30,000 wellness bags to send to women affected by cancer. The company brought its tenants into the loop by asking retailers to donate products for the bags and restaurants to help cater the event. Besides the bag-stuffing, volunteers could pamper themselves by taking advantage of cosmetic makeovers, spa treatments and fashion shows.
The response from the community was so overwhelming that Macerich was able to fill the wellness bags with ease and, in fact, could have upped its targets if it had realized just how many people were going to show up, says Susan Valentine, senior vice president of marketing at Macerich.
Macerich was so pleased it plans to sponsor another Step Out Step Up event during the upcoming holiday season. On Dec. 11, shoppers will be invited to Macerich properties to gift-wrap 40,000 holiday presents that Macerich will buy for local underprivileged women. Next year, Step Out Step Up will serve as the umbrella theme for several Macerich-sponsored events, says Valentine.
Step Out Step Up offers shoppers “even more of a reason to come to the mall,” and that can translate into more purchases, notes Valentine.
Pumped up
Shoppers at GK Development Inc.'s nine regional malls have something to celebrate too. With its marketing promotion, Barrington, Ill.-based GK is trying to ease consumers' “fuel fright.''
In April, GK's North Grand Mall in Ames, Iowa, received more than 1,400 entries — including 570 e-mail addresses — in a first-time giveaway for a gas-saving scooter valued at nearly $2,100. Last month, during Iowa's tax holiday, North Grand offered a $10 gas card to any shopper who presented at least $100 in receipts from one day of shopping. The average spent by promotion participants was $144. Other GK malls are conducting gas giveaways as well.
“We're really hitting a hot item by offering the shoppers what concerns them the most, and right now that's fuel,” says Debbie Wodrich, director of marketing at GK.
Another retail center achieving success with pocketbook-minded consumers is Talega Village Center in San Clemente, Calif. The 103,000-square-foot community center, developed by Irvine, Calif.-based Hopkins Real Estate Group, opened in mid-June.
It's anchored by a Ralphs grocery store. A coupon-filled, grand-opening piece mailed to 12,000 nearby residents notched a 21 percent redemption rate. Traditionally, a 2 percent to 5 percent redemption rate is considered decent for a marketing mailer, says Lapin, whose Lapin Consulting Group worked with Talega.
Lapin senses “a gung-ho attitude” among her clients toward overcoming declines in retail sales.
“I'm not seeing any kind of cutbacks on marketing expenditures due to the economy,” she says. “If anything, I'm seeing programs continue to try to keep shoppers coming in.”
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