In-store marketing: Journey to the centre

Simon Hathaway, COO at retail specialist Saatchi & Saatchi X, says it makes sense. "There's 20 per cent too much retail space in the UK and all of the centres want to attract the good stores to their property. A big flagship retailer can change the profile and allow the centre to justify raising the rent."

In addition, high street footfall is dropping. According to the Retail Traffic Index, March's figures were down 3.2 per cent on the same month last year. Retailers are looking to the property owners to rectify this somehow - and experiential and promotions are providing an immediate, if short-term, fix.

One indication of this is the number of promotions in shopping centres launched by brands and the malls themselves in April. Vauxhall has teamed up with TV show Britain's Next Top Model for an experiential roadshow to support the marque's Tigra model. Meanwhile the UK's biggest shopping centre chain, The Mall - which manages 23 outlets, holding 2,100 retailers - has teamed up with cosmetic and jewellery chain Virgin Vie at Home to offer free makeovers.

Agency Baber Smith has created promotions and brand campaigns for a number of malls. Creative director Simon Smith cites the "win a million" competition for Brent Cross in London. "The main thing is that it's a short-term footfall driver, while the brand campaigns are about long-term equity," he says.

The Mall's consultant marketing director, John Wringe, says promotional marketing is a key part of its strategy to bring in retailers and fight falling shopper numbers. The company has aimed to build the brand through above-the-line, notably sponsorship of the revamped Family Fortunes, but he says integrating this with the promotion has been key. "Promotions have to be large and visible, but they also work far better if they use an experiential element. We found that when we ran our own Family Fortunes roadshows."

All agree that promotions in shopping centres have grown more sophisticated. Hathaway says: "Fifteen years ago, people would be happy if they got a free sample of something. Now, unless they're interested, they'll brush you aside." And it is not just the consumer who expects more. Wringe says: "Collectively, the retail brands who work with us spend £500 million on advertising each year. They're very sophisticated and they expect us to be too."

However, Hathaway claims that with this increasing sophistication, malls are beginning to emulate retailers' clear-floor policies. Promotions must not restrict shopper movement and need to show clear, demonstrable value.

Wringe is chasing footfall but denies it's the be all and end all. The aim is to keep spend high, which involves targeting with a database The Mall has built up. "A lot of work has been done on profiling our retailers," he says.

In marketing terms, what is happening in shopping centres has fallen off the radar. But it's worth stressing that for the millions whose local high street isn't Oxford Street, shopping centres are the place to connect with brands.

As consumers' expectations of how marketing should entertain them grow and retailers pull away from experiential promotions, perhaps shopping centres will fill the void.

- See feature, page 19 THE LIBERTY SHOPPING CENTRE, ROMFORD

The Liberty is in the centre of Romford and attracts around 25 million people a year to its 100-plus stores. However, it has come under pressure from larger, out-of-town retail parks such as nearby Lakeside.

Research showed that most visitors lived within 10 miles and came from less affluent areas. Awareness of The Liberty in more affluent areas within that range was far lower, but consumers who visited once were often surprised at the centre's quality and likely to visit again.

The centre briefed Saatchi & Saatchi X to devise a campaign that appealed to both demographics and increased uplift over the weekend at the end of June. The agency decided to create an experiential campaign based around music, as this had cut-through with both affluent and less affluent groups.

A Battle of the Bands festival featured local musicians on a stage in the middle of the centre. The aim was to create uplift in footfall of 10 per cent. This was exceeded, with visits rising 40 to 50 per cent compared with the same weekend in 2006. Footfall rose on average by 7.3 per cent in the period up to September.