To get through to a person and to be heard, to create values and to discover new needs - these are the main tasks of marketing communications of a mall. The purpose is to promote the category “shopping” as a lifestyle and a regular and meaningful activity in a consumer's life.

Investigating behavior and needs of the malls’ visitors, the thesis that that shopping improves the mood has already become a fundamental truth. The theses about types of purchases: planned and spontaneous, rational beneficial and emotional, and the common saying that each product has its own buyer have become undeniable. 

All these simple and understandable shopping motives are based on real stories and insights, otherwise buyers would not believe them. They can be easily packed into the communications of a mall’s brands to communicate, carry out a conversation, offer new collections and consumer solutions.

A communityplace instead of a marketplace 

One of the strengths of a mall is its reality. It exists here and now, here you can get a real service, real feelings and a real atmosphere of presence. Here you can touch everything, try clothes on, see yourself in a mirror and talk to sellers. Therefore, positioning of a mall as a comfortable social space where you can come and meet other people is relevant and attractive. Marketplaces instead of the comfortable and real concept “here and now” promote the idea of convenience of online shopping. Though well-known online operators also go offline to feel touch points with reality, offline players form community platforms around themselves, actively developing their media outlets to have a direct information connection with their consumers. It is this kind of communication line that is introduced in Arricano malls - our own information channels for customers with messages that influence their decisions and behavior.

12 months - 12 reasons to say

During 2019 our team generated at least one key shopping message monthly for each Arricano shopping mall, namely for “Prospekt” and “RayON” shopping malls in Kyiv, “City Mall” in Zaporizhzhia and “Sun Gallery” in Kryvyi Rih. During this year, the whole life story of a mall was presented as in the book “12 months”: about a comfortable atmosphere, brands and bestsellers, life hacks and useful tips, warm relationships and impressions.

To touch with words

Messages or communication messages are the starting points from which a person, an organization, or a brand starts to communicate, demonstrating its position, offer and advantage. The end point of communication in a shopping mall is shopping. However, promotional messages suggesting “Buy something!” are no longer considered neither appealing nor stimulating buyers to action, or polite. On the opposite, they rather cause an irritation.

We act in a different way. For example, for the stimulating message about autumn collections, which have been already present in the shopping mall “Sun Gallery”, we spoke about “Global warming that is on the way. Stylish things are waiting for their owners.” To promote summer shopping, the message was “How many motives do you have to get off your clothes in summer. After all, your body is looking for something new.”  For RayON shopping mall the slogan was “It is time to pack your suitcase for the summer. 50 own versions of shopping near your home.”

In the late summer and early fall, the most relevant fashion purchase for most visitors is shoes. To reinforce this motive, we suggested, “Everybody wear high quality shoes, in classical, casual or sport style,” hinting that different styles of shoes should be present in a wardrobe. The message related to shoes in “Prospekt” shopping mall was “Trends are different. Comfort is the same for everyone.” After all, shoes should be, first of all, comfortable.

About another type of discounts 

Sales, discounts and special offers in a mall are always important. In this type of communication, it is important for clients to know where and when. In this case, we added some creative decisions, distinguishing us from others. “The S Day is a Sale on Summer Saturday. 11 hours of discounts. Is it enough for you?” At the “Sun Gallery” shopping mall. In “RayON” shopping mall the message was “100 Shades of Sale. Choose your own one.”

About benefits of special atmosphere

Summer in a shopping mall is considered to be a low season of shopping and leisure. However, we have debunked this myth. When I made a working visit to “Prospekt” shopping mall, I was really surprised seeing a lot of young mothers with toddlers spending their time at the food court and in the shopping gallery. The same situation was in the other Arricano’s shopping malls. It turns out that it is more comfortable to spend time with children in cool and equipped with air conditioners places. Therefore, the coolness was turned into a competitive advantage and a communication was launched - “Hot Summer - Cool Shopping. Checks - Lottery - High Tech”.

Invitation to Birthday Parties

A mall's birthday is a multifaceted BTL marketing tool that affects traffic, image, turnover, and communication. We invite guests for our holidays having a certain concept and idea, to which the guests of the mall also adhere. Therefore, it happened that, for “Sun Gallery” in Kryvyi Rih the “Party in SuperYa Style. Discover your sunny side” has hit the mark, the 5th anniversary of “Prospekt” shopping mall was marked with “Give a high five! Feel our holiday in return.” “RayON”shopping mall, which birthday falls on August, 31 - the last day of summer celebrated the party «Fix your summer on happy birthday! Drive. The dilemma. After party”.

VUCA - Communications

The classical rule for formulating an advertising is: one message - one sense. However, for a multifaceted shopping malls one sense is sometimes not enough. After all, we must talk about an atmosphere, a food court, promotions and shopping with collaboration with the fashion brands represented in the mall. Another difficulty in communication adds the fact that thousands of customers visit the mall daily. Everyone should get an information message about the position and the benefits. In today’s VUCA world (the VUCA model - volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), when everything is flowing, unpredictable and rapidly changing, one prolonged message is not enough. That is why we have chosen a communication tactic, which involves offering on a monthly basis a new relevant main slogan, dividing it into sub-slogans and additional messages. This is a good excuse to interact with your visitors, get their feedback, and analyze which words, stylistic and senses are more relevant in the specific target groups, and which competitive advantages of the mall they like most.

That is, the more you talk about yourself, the more information you learn. During the year, we have created a whole communication book with real stories. The most popular ones, which means those that have already passed the perception test, we’ll be continued in the next season, with a new interpretation of the competitive advantages and senses.

Author: Olena Obukhivska, Arricano Communications Manager.
Source: sostav.ua