The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has announced the winners of the 2016 ICSC Solal Marketing Awards. The Awards Ceremony took place last night at a gala dinner for the ICSC European Marketing Conference.
ICSC named 7 Gold Award and 11 Silver Award winners at the dinner which was held at the city’s famous Meistersaal venue. This year, for the first time, the ICSC Solal Awards Jury has also awarded two distinctions; one for the marketing campaign that scores the highest on innovation criteria and the other for the highest scoring campaign with a budget of less than €10,000.
ICSC received a record 238 entries from 21 countries for the awards.
The ICSC Solal Marketing Awards are the benchmark of the industry’s creative excellence, bringing together the best shopping centre marketing across Europe and South Africa. The awards recognise best practices and the most innovative and effective campaigns from the region. The programme is the single most important marketing competition for European and South African shopping centres.
The Solal Marketing Awards categories that are judged are:
Brand Awareness & (Re) Positioning Emerging Technology
Business-to-Business Corporate Social Responsibility
Customer Services Footfall Activation
Grand Opening/Expansion/ Refurbishment Sales Activation
The ICSC Solal Marketing Awards Jury includes retailers, developers and investors. All Gold winners automatically qualify for entry into the internationally-renowned ICSC VIVA Awards which recognise excellence in global shopping centre marketing.
Comments Manuela Calhau, Solal Marketing Awards jury chair 2016:
“It is really a pleasure to have the opportunity to showcase and publicly recognize the best of the industry in terms of marketing. This year we had a record number of entries, which is very rewarding and clear evidence of the vitality of marketing across the sector. The entries were absolutely of top quality and the awarded ones were particularly inspiring. It is worth noting as well the very good response we got for the special distinction for innovation and low-budget campaign awards that we have introduced this year. We will certainly continue to evolve the Solal Awards, aiming to contribute to set new standards for the industry.”
The 2016 Solal Award winners are:
BRAND AWARENESS & (RE) POSITIONING
SILVER
Kenyin
Kanyon
Istanbul, Turkey
Management Company: Kanyon Yonetim Isletim ve Pazarlama
Owner: Eczacibasi Group and IS GYO
Through the use of imaginative social media video content featuring a unique character, Kanyon engaged more than 178,000 online users to follow Kenyin as he explored the centre.
GOLD
Red Bull Paper Wings @ Almada Forum
Almada Forum
Almada, Portugal
Management Company: Multi Portugal
Owner: Multi
Almada Forum partnered with Red Bull to stage the national final of the World Paper Airplane championship, ensuring that the centre remained top of mind among its desired younger demographic.
GOLD
ShopBoy
Hoog Catharijne
Utrecht, Netherlands
Management Company/Owner: Klepierre
Hoog Catharijne innovatively employed blue suit-clad young men to act as shopping carts, prompting customers to deposit a coin and retain their services as parcel carriers and shopping companions.
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
SILVER
Ambassador Program
Madrid Xanadú
Arroyomolinos, Spain
Management Company/Owner: Ivanhoe Cambridge
Xanadú’s Ambassador Program includes an array of tools, free services and training initiatives that have incented centre employees to provide industry-leading customer service.
SILVER
Liverpool ONE: It’s Where You Belong
Liverpool ONE
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Management Company: Grosvenor Fund Management—Europe
Owner: Grosvenor Liverpool Fund
Liverpool ONE’s comprehensive PR driven communications strategy, complemented by focused marketing materials, helped the centre secure 29 new brands amid a challenging landscape.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
SILVER
Blind Date With Books
Alegro Alfragide and Setúbal Shopping Centres
Portugal
Management Company: Immochan Portugal
The Blind Date With Books project included a series of events and initiatives designed to promote and encourage reading habits while generating donations of books for the region’s less privileged children.
GOLD
The Movie Hub
Weston Favell Shopping Centre
Northampton, United Kingdom
Management Company/Owner: Redefine International PLC
The Movie Hub initiative gave 400 local kids with challenging lives the opportunity to work on the preproduction of a feature film at the first operational film studio located in a UK shopping centre.
CUSTOMER SERVICES
SILVER
Baby Care Room
Centro Colombo
Lisbon, Portugal
Management Company: Sonae Sierra
Owner: Sonae Sierra and CBRE Global Investors
The Baby Care Room at Colombo features individual feeding and changing areas, a play area for older children and kitchen amenities, all set within a soothing and ambient environment.
SILVER
ForumBox Loyalty Programme
Forum Bornova
Izmir, Turkey
Management Company/Owner: Commerz Real Investment GmbH
Forum Bornova’s innovative digital project ForumBox is a loyalty tool designed to increase sales and traffic by offering customers points and gifts in return for shopping purchase transactions.
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
SILVER
City iLove
Baneasa Shopping City
Bucharest, Romania
Management Company/Owner: Baneasa Developments
The City iLove program at Baneasa Shopping City is an integrated loyalty, sales and marketing platform focusing on customer retention and providing an optimal shopping centre experience.
SILVER
Love to Shop App by ECE
ECE Projektmanagement G.m.b.H. & Co. KG
Hamburg, Germany
ECE’s Love to Shop app allows customers to enjoy innovative services such as Click & Collect, purchase gift cards and use iBeacon technology to navigate centre and car park areas.
FOOTFALL ACTIVATION
SILVER
Armazéns do Chiado Tree of Hugs
Armazéns do Chiado
Lisbon, Portugal
Management Company: Multi Portugal
Owner: CRI
Armazéns do Chiado’s large-scale and interactive Tree of Hugs initiative invited passersby to share a Christmas hug, with each hug generating a donation to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
GOLD
Xanadú Nickelodeon Slime Zone
Madrid Xanadú
Arroyomolinos, Spain
Management Company/Owner: Ivanhoe Cambridge
Madrid Xanadú has registered 31,000 members at the Nickelodeon Slime Zone since its launch in January 2015 and is to date the largest free children’s club located in a Spanish shopping centre.
GRAND OPENING/EXPANSION/REFURBISHMENT
SILVER
Forum Lviv Opening Campaign
Forum Lviv
Lviv, Ukraine
Management Company: Multi Ukraine, LLC
Owner: Multi/Blackstone
Forum’s three-month-long pre-opening campaign included tenant events, social and traditional media promotions and a contest giving local residents an opportunity to become the “face” of the new centre.
GOLD
Supersam Comeback!
DH Supersam
Katowice, Poland
Management Company/Owner: Griffin Real Estate
The Supersam Comeback! campaign used communist-styled agitation posters, newsreels and social media publications to humourously chronicle a 1960s character’s journey to the modern world.
SALES ACTIVATION
SILVER
Bluewater’s Spin to Win
Bluewater
Greenhithe, United Kingdom
Management Company: Land Securities
Owner: Land Securities and a number of co-owners
Bluewater transformed a vacant storefront into a game installation, incenting 38,000 visitors to Spin to Win for an opportunity to win prizes and discounts redeemable at the centre’s multiple dining options.
GOLD
Forums Fuel Up the Sales
Forum Shopping Centres
Istanbul, Turkey
Management Company: Multi Turkey
Multi Turkey’s Fuel Up the Sales campaign innovatively stimulated sales among 10 Forum shopping centres, rewarding loyal customers with fuel vouchers instead of cash on redeemable centre purchases.
GOLD
Change Campaign by IKEA Centres Russia
MEGA, IKEA Centres
Russia
Management Company/Owner: IKEA Centres Russia
The multifaceted Change Campaign incented MEGA customers to exchange gently used clothing for discount coupons, promotional offers and loyalty rewards redeemable at centre retailers.
SPECIAL DISTINCTION – INNOVATION
Bairams Are Meaningful With Your Presence
Espark
Eskisehir, Turkey
Management Company: ECE Turkey
Owner: ECE Turkiye Proje Yonetimi, A.S.
Espark brought mall management, retailers, their families and community residents together, uniting all Eskisehir residents with Bairams and their significant role in Turkish culture.
SPECIAL DISTINCTION – BUDGETS UNDER 10K
One Day Only: 50 Shades of Grey Pop-Up Shop
Shopping Stadsfeestzaal
Antwerp, Belgium
Management Company: Multi Belgium Management
Owner: Multi Corporation
The Shopping Stadsfeestzaal team used a vacant storefront to creatively stage an exclusive Valentine’s Day event capitalizing on the popularity of the 50 Shades of Grey movie, books and products.
