Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/528948
acts and figures are still crucial for luring strategically important retailers to new or redeveloped shopping centers, so landlords and their representatives continue sending data-rich brochures, Pdf files and zip drives to prospective tenants. But some are also employing newer methods — helicopter rides, "flash" mobs, aerial drones, opening-day baseball tick- ets, to name a few — for pitching their projects to retail chains they wish to woo. F attention graBBers LANDLORDS ARE USING DRONES, FLASH MOBS AND OTHER CREATIVE TACTICS TO GET PROSPECTIVE TENANTS' ATTENTION By Joel Groover J U L y 2 0 1 5 / S C T 45 all told, today's retailers simply expect landlords' marketing efforts to be a cut above what was the norm during the economic boom seven or eight years ago, according to Jonathan lapat, a principal of strategic retail advisors, in framingham, Mass. "deals are no longer flying off the shelf like they were before," lapat said. "Postrecession, most retailers have a more arduous approval process internally, and so deals are taking longer to approve. as part of that, retailers are demanding better-quality presentations [from landlords]." a developer embarking on a multiphase, mixed-use project in a major metropolitan area would traditionally rely on a sophisticated marketing campaign, using branded logos, attractive renderings, 3-d walk-through videos and the like as part of the effort. But now even redevelop- ment projects in secondary markets are embracing such elevated approaches to draw tenants, says Kristi Buechler, senior director of leasing for Madison Marquette retail services. "if it's a redevelop- ment, you really need to show retailers where the center is headed," Buechler said. "they need to be able to understand your vision." Buechler cites Madison Marquette's retailer-focused marketing efforts for the ongoing redevelop- ment of university Mall, in chapel Hill, n.c. initially, when retailers were presented with site plans and demographic data related to the project, they were less than inspired by the 1970s-era mall, Buechler says. But once Madison Marquette commissioned an architecture firm to create renderings