When we launched into the retail activation market in 2009, we noted a significant upswing in consumer receptivity, and shopper’s willingness to participate with mall activations, if done correctly. Interestingly, we also noted a change in which brands and advertisers have become more and more willing to put their products and services on display in the centre court.

Of course the level of interest from consumers tends to be largely dependent on the brand or product being promoted, and how it can serve a particular need or want. It is therefore key to package the activation in a way that is not only creatively inspiring but that piques the interest of a potential purchaser. Before any activation takes place brand managers, advertisers and agencies should do their homework - who is the target market and what are their interests? More importantly, what is going to make them stop dead in their tracks and visit your activation?

In my opinion, the shopping mall is quite undervalued. A shopping centre is where millions of people gather every year, hundreds of thousands every month and thousands every week. They gather to share, to experience, to shop, to be entertained or just to kill time. Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square alone are collectively visited by over 25-million affluent shoppers annually, with an average visit lasting between two to three hours.

Consumers want instant gratification and understand how a product will help make their lives easier or faster, or themselves richer, more successful or more beautiful. Simply describing features and benefits is no longer good enough for today’s info-rich consumer.

Face-to-face marketing engagement is playing an increasingly pivotal role in growing brands and engaging consumers, especially given today’s economic climate where the marketing mix has to work so much smarter. We fully understand the mounting urgency for brands to be advertised in the right place, at the right time and most importantly, to engage with consumers on a personal level.

By bringing the brand into the shopping space through a dedicated activation, it is given a personality and is able to communicate to the brand’s direct target market, in the flesh. The platform allows for engagement with both sexes, any age or lifestyle group and they experience a tangible relationship with the brand, which above-the-line platforms can’t offer. For example, when marketing a vehicle brand through a retail activation, consumers can sit in the car, smell the leather and feel the steering wheel in their hands.

As one example, at a recent activation for a vehicle manufacturer, we brought in dedicated and hand-picked brand ambassadors, erected promotional stands, brought in interactive touch screens and displayed the vehicles in the centre courts in Sandton City, Eastgate, Clearwater Mall and Maponya Mall. Over a period of just five weeks, the vehicle brand received 662 solid leads for the new models.

This sort of conversion rate is unheard of in the traditional advertising mix. Because of the tactile nature of the platform, the products are brought to the fingertips of consumers where they get to engage all their senses in experiencing the brand, and gain vital additional information about whatever is being promoted – it’s the kind of engagement you won’t get paging through a magazine or walking from isle to isle in the supermarket.

To give you an idea of the trending in our space, to date we’ve successfully implemented 94 activations, with the predominant category being motor vehicles, followed by house hold appliances and financial services.

The key differentiator with the activation platform is that it creates impact. Through providing a complete sensory experience, activations have a greater impact on consumers than traditional media, which at most, involves just two senses during message delivery. It boils down to the quality of the experience and the impact delivered, which result in memorability.

I believe that activations in the retail environment deliver more credibility than related activities in the marketing mix, based on the fact that in the more traditional avenues, the communication is strictly one-way. Mall activations might not yield the reach and frequency of traditional media, however the quality of the engagement, I believe is where the value lies. Consumers are walking away from an experience and a personal interaction.

Our activations push the promotional boundaries in terms of the Unlimited group’s long-standing relationships with our mall owners. By leveraging these relationships, we’re able to easily work within strict rules and regulations specified for advertising within malls across the country. Although we need to work within these guidelines, because of the team’s insights, we’re able to maximise parameters from a technology and consumer interaction point of view.

Unfortunately, from a South African perspective, mall activations are not as high on the ‘alternative media’ media schedule as we’d like them to be. Many media agencies understand enough about how the activation space works and the innate benefits in delivering a timeous, tactical activation, close to the point of purchase. They are aware that the malls have stringent rules and regulations, and because of these perceived barriers to entry, feel that it’s easier to book a TV or radio schedule, albeit it more expensive, offering no direct engagement.

I would love to see more brands playing in the retail space and reaping the rewards of being exposed directly to shoppers, during their leisure time and hope that soon, marketers, clients and media agencies make retail activation a standard on the media schedule.

With the number of brands signing up for activations month on month, it’s evident that leading brands custodians are embracing the value of being able to have an engaging experience with consumers, while they’re in a spending frame of mind.

To gain share of mind and place brands in the hands of the target market, media planners and advertisers need to evolve their definitions of customer relationship management to a new, higher level - human engagement through brand activation.