Industry news, views and occasional strange stuff.
Suddenly, the mainstream media is abuzz with the story that malls are increasingly employing curfews, a subject Retail Traffic tackled in March and in 2003.
Right now, an Associated Press story is making the rounds. There have been a few items in St. Louis-area news outlets as malls in that area are employing curfews. USA Today also tackled the story about a month ago.
Why so much fuss over mall curfews out of the blue?
An interesting pilot program is being discussed for the Arnot Mall to create a “school to work transition program.”
Special education students in the Southern Tier may soon get some hands on training that could lead to a job. Three local school districts, BOCES, ARC and the Arnot Mall are looking to team up and create a school to work transition program.
The School at the Mall Job Center would include a classroom where students could do academic work. Then they’d help out in mall stores.
More here.
Three people, including a mall security guard were shot in a botched attempt to rob a jewelery store at the Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta.
According to witnesses, four or five men attempted the robbery, but were chased off by mall security and local police.
Atlanta police Officer James Polite said four or five men attempted to rob Glitz Jewelers, but released few details about the stickup or why gunfire erupted.
The suspects headed west on Lakewood Freeway in a gray and black Ford Expedition, Coleman said.
Janie Shoneye, the store manager of Ashley Stewart women’s clothing store, said she heard two shots shortly after 5 p.m.
From inside Ashley Stewart, she said, she could see two men wearing ski masks and bandanas run out of the mall and get into a dark vehicle.
She saw police and mall security run after the men.
According to the latest reports, the conditions of the three wounded victims is improving and police are still searching for the suspects.
The Ridgeland Police and Fire departments, the Jackson Bomb Squad, FBI, and Homeland Security were among 18 agencies that conducted a training scenario involving a mock terror attack at the Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., on Sunday night and Monday morning.
The training exercise centered on a nerve agent that was released and contaminated the air and every one inside.
“It’s very realistic. We have 50 role players inside playing the parts of victims. We gave assignments of symptoms,” said Allan McCluer, training officer for the Ridgeland Fire Department.
The exercise started Sunday night when the mall closed and ended early Monday morning, authorities said.
While responders knew about the exercise, they didn’t know the specific details surrounding the fake nerve gas scenario. They had to respond as if it were a real crisis. All the agencies involved planned the exercise over the past several months, authorities said.
“That’s what we’re training for. If we reach the point where we can work together and communicate with each other then we’re going to be able to better do our jobs, get out here quicker and protect the people here,” McCluer said.
Mall management cooperated with the drill.
“Training like this is important. It’s a necessary thing and unfortunately it has become more necessary in recent year so we’re just happy to participate,” said Audrie Thompson, Northpark Mall General Manager.
It’s encouraging to see some positive activity occurring in preparing for a worst-case scenario.
Georgia’s top court threw out a lawsuit involving Simon Property Group and it’s gift card practices.
Georgia’s top court on Monday threw out a lawsuit challenging the fees charged on gift cards sold at a mall owned by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group.
The court didn’t give Simon a pass.
In its unanimous decision, the justices ruled that the Georgia law overseeing the use of unclaimed state property doesn’t apply to the unused gift cards.
But the court noted it didn’t consider the “fairness or even the legality of the dormancy fees or expiration dates” in upholding a lower court’s ruling to dismiss the case.
In another incident that could have been easily avoided had the property been using security planters, a man drove his car directly into and through the Augusta Mall in Georgia.
This is the second time in four months that this kind of incident has occurred. Previously, it happend at the Altamonte Mall.
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One of our sister publications, Promo Magazine, has written a great piece interviewing the two marketers behind last month’s promotion-turned-terrorist-scare for the Cartoon Network’s upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.
It’s every marketer’s worst nightmare: a promotion gone terribly wrong.
Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System learned some hard lessons about post-Sept. 11 marketing in January when it ran a street campaign that turned into a bomb scare in Boston. The problem? People mistook the blinking circuit-like boards erected on bridges and other infrastructure for bombs.
The stunt was designed to promote Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force TV show, part of the network’s late-night adult programming. Instead, it shut down the city and raised fears about terrorism. The campaign, which was virtually unnoticed in nine other markets, created chaos for all involved — including Interference, the agency that ran it, and two men who help execute the campaign.
Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, are due back in court this month on charges of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct.
Jim Samples took the fall for Cartoon Network. The former executive vice president and general manager resigned last month.
And the flap is far from over. At press time, Dr. Pepper scrapped a promotion after Boston officials wouldn’t allow treasure-hunt in the historic Granary Burying Ground. Sources both in and out of the industry are questioning the value of guerrilla marketing (seen by many consumers as mischief or nuisance marketing.)
Now perhaps they can track down the folks responsible for this misguided PSA on mall safety.
The New York Times has a piece about new in-mall services that send text advertisements to shoppers while they are already at the property.
Technology companies like NearbyNow of Los Altos, Calif., and GPShopper in New York have introduced mobile Internet applications that allow shoppers to use their cellphones and PDAs to search the inventory and prices at the local mall, save them wasted steps and, sometimes, turn up last-minute bargains and promotions.
GPShopper’s Slifter service for mobile product searches was first to the market last year, but some analysts believe that NearbyNow’s mall-centric approach has more immediate potential.
NearbyNow first tested its system last holiday season in the Eastridge mall, in San Jose, Calif. The mall posted about 10 signs prompting shoppers to send a six-digit text message to the address “Nearby” for sales information. Shoppers received a welcome message from the mall, listing the number of sales in progress and asking users to type in the brand or product they were seeking.
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Apparently, an ad agency in India as a public service announcement thought it would be a good idea to put fake explosives in clear plastic bags and take pictures of people reacting to it.
Given the reaction to the
failed Aqua Teen Hunger Force PR stunt in Boston, I wonder what the reaction to this sort of campaign would have been here?
Thanks to an alert Traffic Court reader for pointing this out!
(Originally spotted at advertising for peanuts.)
Malls of America originally uploaded this promotional spot last April. But it’s worth highlighting again.
This 1957 video offers a walk-through of the Hillsdale Shopping Center, including an explanation of all the food options at the property. The mall offered a farmer’s market that was clearly one of its main attractions at the time.
It’s most interesting to see just how much mall aesthetics (not to mention mall marketing) have changed in the 50 years since this spot was filmed. Of course, there’s also a lot that remains the same, including the idea of doing a fashion show at the mall and getting celebrities to make appearances to draw traffic. And the property still has its Macy’s.
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