Vestar, one of the leading privately held real estate companies in the western United States, was a winner of a 2017 U.S. MAXI Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) at the organization’s RECon 2017 conference in Las Vegas. Vestar received a Gold Award in the Traditional Marketing category for its “Shop & Text, Don’t Text & Drive” campaign which was created by Vestar Marketing director, Heath McCue CMD and implemented at three of its centers, The District at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nevada; Pacific Commons Shopping Center in Fremont, California; and Peninsula Shopping Center in Rolling Hills Estate, California.
In a joint marketing effort, Vestar turned an ordinary back-to-school event at the three centers into something extraordinary by partnering with AT&T and three celebrities popular among teens – Nickelodeon’s Jack Griffo, four-time Emmy nominee Max Ehrich, and Disney’s Peyton List – to deliver an important anti-texting-while-driving message to local teens in each of the centers’ target markets. Vestar created an event logo as well as a video, scratch-off cards and an informative booklet for the events and used the back of the booklet to advertise key merchants with teen-tailored offers. With a comprehensive marketing campaign that included Facebook, Instagram and Pandora, Vestar raised awareness for the cause and drew throngs of teens and their parents to the centers where they were introduced to a bevy of demographically appropriate new stores.
“Our communities where are centers are located and the people within them are extremely important to us,” said Denise Hart, Vestar Vice President of Marketing. “We were excited to develop a successful campaign that created awareness of a topic and issue that impacts all of us.”
The U.S. MAXI Awards showcase the creative and innovative practices that paint the picture for the future of the industry. Traditional Marketing winners executed an award-winning strategy across a number of subcategories: cause-related marketing, integrated advertising campaigns, sales activation, grand openings/redevelopment/expansion/renovation, public relations, business-to-business and digital/social. ICSC honored the winners on May 21 during a ceremony at RECon, the world’s largest retail real estate convention held in Las Vegas.
