SA judge for international Solal awards

This is the second consecutive year that Mayne has been invited to judge the awards, which reward marketing excellence in shopping centre campaigns around the globe. Partner judges included 14 marketing personnel from around the world, predominantly from Europe with Mayne being the only South African judge.

"The calibre of the judging panel is high with the team being made up of MDs, marketing directors, general managers, property owners etc all specialists within their own fields," says Mayne. "We judged 72 entries in two days, which meant that judges had to work quickly and accurately and the entrants had to present their document in such a way that it enticed the judges straight away.

Innovative Turkish entries

"The key insights I took away is that there is room for education in how some of the entries are presented and in the overall quality of the submissions. In terms of innovation, several entries from Turkey made a definite impression on me. It's one of the only European economies growing at the moment and it's clearly ahead of the curve in terms of marketing innovation and use of social media and emerging technology."

Turkey's big ideas included a replica Wipeout activation (transcribed from the popular US and UK version of the show where contestants have to master several physical obstacles in order to win cash prizes) which took place in one dedicated mall.

Another of their entries included an entire floor applicated with a QR code which allowed consumers to literally scan any part of the floor with their QR readers to activate certain applications. "There was also an entry which utilised Pinterest to great effect which shows that marketers need to remember that it's not just about Facebook and Twitter anymore, although these platforms are no less important."

Now media, not new media

"Another major takeout is that 'New Media' (social media) should no longer exist, it's now 'Now Media' and should be a compulsory part of every campaign. It's a channel that should not stand on its own but rather be an integral part of a shopping centre's communication.

"The bulk of the Solal entries remained in the 'traditional' marketing fields so one of the key focus areas for judges and the committee in the future is to increase entries in other categories."

Future is self-funding campaigns

A German shopping centre entry had a Christmas campaign in which two entirely separate Christmas villages were created, with one replicating an Austrian ski slope scene. Apart from selling merchandise, it offered an actual ski slope and beer tent within the shopping centre.

"The future of great shopping centre campaigns has to be those that become self-funding, much like the German example. This is the single biggest trend as sponsorships and income around marketing are becoming increasingly important. The German Christmas campaign generated a profit in its second year through selling ready built kiosks/stalls as part of its Christmas village market campaign. The stalls were paid for up front and amortised over a two year period and were sold to various offerings that complemented the Christmas village markets.

"Marketing budgets are continuing to decline so it is even more important for marketers, tenants and commercial property owners to create these self-funding campaigns. We need to start thinking about how to generate sponsorship and income without dipping into marketing budgets which could result in us as a profession, creating so much more with the budgets that we do have."

South African entries

When asked about the standard of the South African entries submitted by Primedia Lifestyle Marketing Services, he says that the judges were impressed. "They said our work was of a high standard."

The company's finalists for 2012 include campaigns for Gateway Theatre of Shopping; Chatsworth; Tyger Valley; Cavendish; Menlyn Park and Musgrave shopping centres.