The countdown to Mall of Africa’s opening has begun in earnest, with under two months left to go. And while the tenants are fitting their stores and the developing teams are completing the final touches, the marketing campaign is also being planned with painstaking attention to detail. Vanessa Fourie from the brand communications company Purple Plumm shared some intel…
What is planned for the opening?
Retailers are doing a lot of advertising, and we work with the tenants to make sure we reach their target markets. What is particularly exciting is that there are a number of stores that are making their South African debut in Mall of Africa, such as Starbucks, Zara Home and the French clothing brand The Kooples, and they are all doing big PR and advertising drives along with all the other local and international tenants, from Forever 21, H&M, Hamleys, River Island, Versace, Woolworths, Mr Price, the Foschini Group, Imax, Edgars and more; we are supporting all of these opening efforts.
Do you have a particular strategy?
We are focusing on knowledge and experience… This mall is so massive, it is potentially overwhelming for a shopper, so we are focusing on empowering messaging: from how to drive there, where to park to get to the shop you want easily, introducing what shops there are. We are also targeting specific messages at different personas or categories of shoppers, such as residents of the surrounding development, mothers, office workers… We want these diverse groups to all have an equally satisfying experience at the mall, so we are training brand ambassadors who will be on hand on the ground to help the shoppers find what they’re looking for. Customer service training is being done on all levels from the parking and security staff to the management team, to ensure that the shopping experience at Mall of Africa will be pleasurable.
How will you get the messages across?
We are extremely excited about the Mall of Africa magazine, which is being published by Ndalo Media, who also do Destiny and Sawubona. This will be a high-gloss quarterly title, of which 50 000 copies will be distributed, also in the residential estates in the precinct. It will offer the tenants a platform for crossmarketing. The magazine is being launched to coincide with the opening of the mall on Thursday, 28 April 2016.
We’re also targeting the shoppers in the various categories with a persona-focused campaign to help each segment understand what there is for them; and this will run on social media, and on a dedicated microsite.
Any other tricks up your sleeves?
We’ve negotiated with the ride-share app Uber to have a dedicated, branded Uber dropoff and collection point, which is a first for South African malls. This will enhance the Uber experience and adds to the ease of navigation that we want for our shoppers. There will also be a big opening campaign that will offer free Uber rides under a refer-a-friend promotion.
What is your mantra for the opening and beyond?
First first first! We believe it is extremely important that the shopper’s first experience of Mall of Africa is a good one, we want to touch the shoppers, and get it right the first time. The mall will be equipped with FATTi and other analytics technology that will be used to monitor and evaluate the shopping patterns of the different groups so that we understand the individuals in real time, and can provide the best experience possible.
Get your head around these numbers!
• 26 different entrances offer access to the Mall of Africa
• 40 escalators in the Mall and within tenant stores
• 49 sets of lifts and hoists
• 256 stores, with four anchor tenants
• 1 750m – the perimeter of the building
• 6 000m – total length of the shopfronts
• 6500 parking bays, the majority of which are covered, even offering a valet parking option
• 130 000m² of retail space
• Trading hours – 7 days a week, Mon to Sat 9am – 8pm, Sundays & public holidays 10am – 8pm
• 10.4 million man hours, and counting, have been worked to complete the mall
• 3 800 – job opportunities created during the construction of the mall
