The Brief

The agency designed a publicity event that featured The Fall’s greatest strength, the water falls. Hiring trumpeters, mermaids and King Neptune, the entertainment provided great visuals for the TV and print media declaring “Let the waters flow at The Falls.”

Challenge

The Falls Shopping Center beautifully landscaped, open air mall, culminated its $60 million renovation and expansion with the Grand Re-Opening of the center. The expansion and renovation allowed the center to redefine itself, build a new mix of retailers and restaurants and bring even more upscale retailers to a very affluent market.

There were several major obstacles, though, that needed to be overcome. The Falls had to continue to compete with its biggest competition located just three miles north of the center. Dadeland Mall, one of the nation's most successful regional centers, boasts 1.5 million square feet and six anchors. The Falls had to deal with a limited marketing and media budget, competing in the 9th most expensive media market in the country. Additionally, The Falls had to maintain sales and traffic during the dusty construction and expansion phase while reassuring customers that the waterscape they had grown to love would remain as close to its original design as possible.

But, in an era of limited expansion, The Falls was the only center in the county that was undergoing any renovation at that time - an opportunity seized by the public relations campaign.

The P.R./Marketing Program

Although the center did not re-open until October, we began strategic publicity efforts in June surrounding the center. When the PR team learned that the management would be turning-on the waters, which until that point had been bone dry, we seized upon a publicity opportunity to announce that The Falls was about to re-open in its new larger, more wonderful size.

We decided to introduce King Neptune and a mermaid, via trumpeters from the New World School of the Arts, as they turned the water on with the raising of Neptune's staff. The mermaid was a constant and part of the advertising campaign.

Known throughout the region for its 3/4 million gallon waterscape, creating events like refilling the water system helped keep the center top of mind for its customers and reassure them the water would still flow.

The Results

The coverage for this inexpensive yet very effective publicity event was excellent. All six of the local television stations showed up for the 10 a.m. event, carrying the story on the 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. newscast. The daily and weekly newspapers covered the event via a photograph of King Neptune and the mermaid on the newly refilling waterfalls.

The Grand Re-Opening Gala event, held one month later, benefited Informed Families of Dade County and featured the world-famous Commodores. In addition to food provided by almost 50 local restaurants, the event featured the unveiling of the Romero Britto sculpture, Florida's Children.

The Falls shopping center was featured in every section of the city's daily newspaper, The Miami Herald, except the Sports section, prior to the Grand Re-Opening. The Falls was featured in practically every weekly newspaper and magazine in Miami. On the day of the Grand Re-Opening, every local television station covered the event. We had three television stations broadcast live from the center for their evening newscasts.

Grand Re-Opening week attracted thousands of shoppers with the help of non-stop entertainment, street performers, mermaids, fashion shows and music, topped off by Macy's grand opening, a New York style parade with giant balloons and display and marching bands. More than 1,500 people attended the Grand Re-Opening Gala raising more than $40,000 for Informed Families of Dade County. Media coverage of the “Turning on of the Waters” and the Grand Re-opening included 12 broadcast clips and more than 75 newspaper clips worth more than $225,000 in equivalent ad dollars.

The Grand Re-Opening of the center firmly etched The Falls into the minds of South Florida shoppers as a new retail center with the new stores they desired in the same environment they had come to expect--making it a true shopping and entertainment destination. More than 50% of the new stores scored record opening day and opening week numbers (total center sales for the month were up a healthy 46.3% for comparable stores), local shoppers were treated to two weeks of Grand Re-Opening entertainment and a local charity benefited from the events, both financially and through publicity exposure.