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McArthurGlen, Europe’s leading owner, developer and manager of designer outlet villages, is pleased to announce that it has received a Merit award at the BCSC (British Council of Shopping Centres) Purple Apple Marketing Awards 2007. The Purple Apple awards, which were launched in 2004, are designed to recognise the most effective use of marketing skills in retailing.
McArthurGlen’s award, in the portfolio category for best ‘Strategic/Overall Campaign’ across the disciplines of the marketing mix, recognises the success of the company’s ‘Guilt-Free’ marketing campaign, launched at Easter 2006 and designed to connect with consumer emotions and behaviour.
Specifically, the campaign focused upon McArthurGlen’s guaranteed discounts as a way of negating the ‘guilt’ that many shoppers might feel as they walk the aisles - from fear of their credit card statements to hiding purchases at the back of the wardrobe.
The campaign, developed for Pan-European application by Publicis Dialogue, also consolidated customer loyalt"y" through a virtual ‘pass the parcel’ game that encouraged existing loyalt"y" scheme members to forward the ‘parcel’ to friends and relatives.
Laura Wenke, Chief Marketing Officer at McArthurGlen, is delighted with the award: “We had an interesting challenge as we needed a campaign that could address McArthurGlen’s exceptional - perhaps unique – profile in European retailing by satisfying simultaneously the ever-increasing consumer emphasis on value with a high quality brand experience.
The campaign was led by Veronique Bellet, our European Consumer Marketing Manager in London, who worked with our UK Centres as well as finding a Pan-European application for our European centres.
“We have been delighted with the effectiveness of the campaign, not only in sales impact but also in the positive response we won from staff and customers, and it is doubly rewarding to win such prestigious recognition at the Purple Apple awards.”
‘Guilt-Free’ laid the foundations for a growing campaign that has carried its success into 2007 and paved the way for an evolved, cohesive marketing strategy campaign across all 15 of its European designer outlet centres.