Malls Are Becoming Walled Ad Sites
A deal announced Friday by real estate developer Mills Corp. and William Morris Agency offers further proof that shopping malls aren’t just for shopping anymore. The joint venture promises to make available thousands of new locations where car manufacturers, cruise lines and other companies can market their wares.
Mills, owner of 12 retail centers, including the Block at Orange, and the William Morris Agency, which represents Anheuser-Busch Cos. and EBay Inc., said their Venue3D unit will give marketers direct access to more than 1 billion consumers as they shop, eat and seek entertainment at the joint venture’s retail centers, hotels and other commercial locations each year.
Venue3D also includes Rouse Co., owner of New York’s popular South Street Seaport; the 40-location Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. chain; New York-based Vornado Realty Trust, owner of the L.A. Mart; Phoenix-based Westcor Realty, which owns the FlatIron Crossing mall outside Denver, and Chicago-based Urban Retail, which owns Water Tower Place mall in that city.
Real estate developers began to turn their shopping malls into marketing tools during the 1990s when they installed billboards to generate additional revenue.
Mall owners also have signed deals that give soft-drink companies exclusive rights to install vending machines.
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group in 1997 created a marketing program covering its 250 retail and commercial properties. “We’ve got 2 billion visitors each year at our properties,” Simon spokeswoman Billie Scott said. “And [marketers] can touch people directly--people who are predisposed to spend.” Simon has signed marketing agreements with PepsiCo Inc., Ford Motor Co. and Microsoft Corp.
“Maybe you open a next-generation auto showroom with a [test track] for SUVs so you can drive one before you buy it,” said Mills Executive Vice President Mark Rivers, who will serve as Venue3D’s chief executive. “We’re not talking about a [kiosk] where someone offers you a free cosmetics sample. And we’re not just offering [marketers] nice imagery. We’re offering them a business opportunity . . . to sell cars or maybe their cruise ship line.”
Mills’ willingness to embrace marketing partners was evident last year when it agreed to sell naming rights to a planned mall in Georgia to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. The mall, which will open in November, will be called Discover Mills, a marketing pitch for Morgan Stanley’s Discover Card.
