Shoppers chill out with Baileys

The promotion is described by managing BOO! managing director Dave McKenzie as: "The first truly through-the-line mall advertising campaign in the country."

It integrates out-of-mall promoters, in-mall branding, sampling, retail partnering, vouchers, point-of-sale merchandising and a safe zone for collective product trials to encourage mall shoppers to taste the liqueur.

At the centre of the campaign, which will run in five malls around the country for one month at a time, is a furnished marquee in which consumers can enjoy a double tot of Baileys (with three blocks of ice), a neck, shoulder or hand massage by qualified therapists and a moment of respite.

"Baileys' global sales approach is to get consumers to taste it," explains marketing manager for gins and creams at Brandhouse, Busi Mkhwanazi.

"In other countries, it is available in supermarkets, which provide safe environments to engage with the product's target market - women. South Africa is different. Bottle-stores are not places women like to hang out at and are not suitable for this type of promotion. Malls, on the other hand, are perfect.

"We took the notion further by creating a sophisticated and feminine area that is true to Baileys brand values and provided a safe, comfortable place in which to engage with our consumers in collective trials that last longer than 30 seconds."

McKenzie believes that the future success of mall advertising depends on clients and their agencies'ability to continue to be inventive and relevant: "The fact that mall advertising is an effective medium for altering consumer behaviour and swaying purchase decisions at the most crucial moment is an increasingly well documented fact.

"In mall advertising recall among shoppers is high and potentially, it offers a national footprint with tremendous consumer reach. The key to making the most of malls special brand of experiential entertainment is to creatively integrate the medium into branding strategies."