Brands are increasingly finding that 'brand experience' allows them to reach their target audience directly.

Sharon Richey, managing director of BEcause Experiential Marketing, says: "Our message is about the need for brands to talk to consumers. We have a confused marketplace where brands communicate their message to the masses, but in the modern marketing environment we need to talk to the consumer. In 2008 we're moving that forward into the recommendation stage. We're moving back to where marketing started years ago with word of mouth. Personal endorsement is the best media and shopping centres provide the best platform to market that."

Emma Ede, managing director of iD, which is a live brand experience agency specialising in experiential marketing, promotional marketing, sampling, in-store marketing, road shows and events, says: "Shopping centres are unique in that they're able to offer central atrium-style spaces which consumers use as a base for their shopping trip - this creates an almost stage-type arena for a brand experience and also ensures that every visitor is likely to encounter the activity at least once."

Richey adds: "Shopping centres provide a risk-free media platform and that's powerful for several reasons. A shopping centre is almost always indoors, which provides a good opportunity to promote throughout the year. Footfall is very regular and robust. There is sufficient dwell time and shoppers are not rushed. They want to be entertained and engaged, so they're much more receptive to marketing."

Last year's interactive Innocent smoothie campaign, organised through BEcause, saw almost 150,000 consumers sample Innocent smoothies, exceeding the campaign target by 20 per cent. The promotional event included real grass flooring, a white picket fence and picnic layout, with an oversized blender full of fruit, and costume characters to engage with the children.

The average sampling rate at shopping centres was 6,300 per day, with 100 per cent of consumers reporting a positive response to the campaign. Eighty per cent responded positively to the money-off coupons, over a third who sampled an Innocent drink said they planned to buy Innocent more often in the future, and 95 per cent said they would be very likely to redeem their coupon.

When selecting shopping centres for a campaign schedule, Ede says the basic requirements are a guaranteed high footfall in a central location and a demographic that's in keeping with the brand.

A recent campaign for the Nescafé Collection featured at Bluewater in Kent as well as many other shopping centres nationwide. The activity took place in one of the busiest strips in Bluewater and was located strategically in the centre of a rest area. Ede says this was a fantastic location for the campaign and allowed the brand to have lengthy and meaningful interactions with consumers who were already in a relaxed and receptive state of mind.

Ede adds: "With regards to what shopping centres can do to appear more attractive in the selection process, the key factor is that there needs to be a contact at the centre who is readily available to work closely with the account planner throughout the activity. The shopping centre needs to be able to offer designated spaces for experiential activity that, ideally, have been used successfully in the past. The spaces need to have a nearby source of power and easily accessible parking in order to cater for all forms of activity.

"As an added extra that may increase marketability for experiential activity, many account planners would be very impressed if the activity is advertised in the centre beforehand - this could increase the footfall on the day, consequentially drawing more consumers into the shopping centre to spend."

Richey supports this view. She says BEcause will look for a centre, such as the Trafford Centre or Bluewater, which provides the right support. "They are costly media platforms to go to," she says. "They cost a lot more than smaller regional centres but because they take it seriously they provide us with good support and invest in the technology to help ensure the figures you're quoting to your client, in terms of footfall and so on, are robust and correct. If shopping centres know their footfall, they will attract more brands."

In addition, Richey says that FMCG brands will be looking for shopping centres that offer customers the opportunity to purchase their product straight away in one of their retailers.

"FMCG brands use experiential marketing more than any other activity," says Richey. "So you want to make sure there's an anchor store stocking that product, so as to generate immediate return.

"If it's a big purchase, like a car, you need to go to a major shopping centre like Bluewater."

Why not make you mark?

Budding entrepreneurs are being offered a unique opportunity to try their hand at the retail business with the launch of a new national competition. Entrants will have the chance to try out their business ideas for free on an RMU in one of The Mall Corporation's 23 shopping centres nationwide, with one lucky winner going on to win a 'retail start-up package'.

The Mall, together with NatWest, RBS Business Banking and Make Your Mark - the national campaign to encourage an enterprise culture in the UK - have joined forces to launch 'Make Your Mark in The Mall'. The competition's goal is not only to encourage entrepreneurship but to ensure that Britain's retail industry benefits from an injection of fresh talent.

The competition will be held in two heats - regional and national. The first stage will involve all entrants supplying a simple business plan to be judged by an independent panel. The successful finalists will each have two weeks free trading in a Mall shopping centre local to them. The national winner will then be chosen from a selection of the most successful traders by a specialist judging panel. The final winner will receive a unique retail start-up package, including six months of rent-free trading on an RMU, hands-on support from The Mall, a business mentor from The Royal Bank of Scotland and a place at the prestigious British Shops & Stores Association Summer School at Keble College Oxford.

Mall chief executive Ken Ford says: "This is about more than just entrepreneurship. We're striving to deliver an environment that nurtures independent retailers from the inception of their idea to its growth into a successful business, whatever its size.

"Make Your Mark in The Mall will help local people to run local businesses, ensuring that Britain's entrepreneurial talent is able to flourish in its hometowns."

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