15 October 2019. South Africa’s Coolest Mall according to Sunday Times Generation Next, scooped several awards at the annual South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) Footprint Marketing Awards. The awards took place on 17 October 2019.
The Footprint Marketing Awards seek to recognise exceptional shopping centre marketing, innovation and creative achievements, together with economic success, within the South African property industry. This year, the Mall of Africa took home awards in the following categories: Integration; Community Relations; Public Relations and Sales Promotions and Events.
“For the second consecutive year, the Mall is recognised by this prestigious institution for our experiential events and promotions. Every year we look to push boundaries and change perceptions of what can be achieved within a physical retail space and this year has been no different“, says Michael Clampett, Head of Retail Asset Management at Attacq.
The Sales Promotions and Events category looks at promotional and merchandising activities aimed at directly stimulating measured and documented retail sales that ultimately contribute to a centre’s profitability. The Mall of Africa won xxx for its Beach event, which took place over the December school holidays, attracting over 12 000 visitors, as well as increasing the Mall’s turnover during that period by 7%. The Mall also took home xxx in the same category, for its quarterly Africa’s Art Collective. The activation not only generated an 8%-foot count increase on the upper level during that period but also increased overall turnover by 9.45%.
The National Antiques and Decorative Arts (NAADA) Faire was the third winner in this category, receiving a xxx award. The event attracted 1912 new visitors to the Crystal Court, with 80% of the tenants in that area seeing an increase in turnover. The NAADA Faire also won xxx in the integration category, which awards major multi-faceted marketing campaigns that are too complex to fit into a single category.
Africa’s Art Collective was also recognised in the Community Relations category, which awards single or ongoing events, programmes or projects that look to benefit a specific community cause or charitable need, rather than a commercial or shopping centre goal. Hosted in partnership with the Julie Miller Investment Art Institute, the event has provided a platform for over 130 artists and profiled over 500 different artworks.
Mall of Africa’s renowned Africa Sculptures titled “There is no time like the present”, also took home xxx in the Community Relations category for its contribution to skill development and community upliftment. Specialised training was provided to local community members during the construction and installation of the famed sculptures.
Lastly, the Mall walked away with a xxx award in the Public Relations category, for the GQ Best Dressed Awards, one of the most prominent events in the South African social calendar. The Mall managed to secure a total PR value of over R10 million for the event.
“We definitely consider ourselves to be an innovative player in the retail space, and it is always an honour to have our industry peers recognise our efforts. This has been quite an eventful year for the Mall, and we look forward to finding new ways to create unique experiences for our visitors, while simultaneously increasing turnover for our tenants,” says Johann Fourie, General Manager at Mall of Africa.