Mall of Africa continues its winning streak scooping two gold and two silver awards at the annual South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) Footprint Marketing Awards announced on 16 November 2020.
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This follows its recent hat-trick of being polled the country’s Coolest Mall by more than twelve thousand voters in the 2020 Sunday Times Generation Next Awards for the third consecutive year.
The mall won gold and silver respectively in the Community Relations category for its Africa Art Collective and Turn the Page with Global Citizen initiatives, gold in the Public Relations category for its GQ Best Dressed Awards partnership and another silver in the Digital Marketing division for its Mall of Africa Sessions for Africa Day.
This is the second consecutive year that both the Art and GQ projects scooped these categories.
The five Africa Art Collective events, collectively the largest series of public art exhibitions in South Africa, increased foot count by 8% on the mall’s upper level as well as overall turn-over by 8.2%.
After winning silver for the GQ Best Dressed Awards in 2019, the mall’s association with this prominent event on the country’s social calendar went on to achieve gold this year for the exceptional results it achieved. Overall, tenants showed an increase of 4% in turnover and the men’s category, an 8% increase for the promotional period. The mall’s silver win in the Community Relations category was awarded for its Turn the Page with Global Citizen literacy advocacy initiative during which donations of over 2 600 books that were distributed to mobile libraries in the surrounding community.
The second silver was awarded in the Digital Marketing category for its Mall of Africa Sessions for Africa Day project where the virtual online concert was successfully hosted at on 25 May 2020 and the main event stream was viewed a total of 4 700 times to date with 262 reactions and 430 comments – almost 10 of views, a significantly higher engagement ratio than average.
The Footprint Marketing Awards seek to recognise exceptional shopping centre marketing, innovation, and creative achievements, together with economic success, within the South African property industry.
“We continuously aim to position Mall of Africa as the premier destination for African excellence – be it in art, fashion, design or the performing arts. But also, to be experienced as a valuable and involved partner to the community we serve.
It is enormously gratifying to be recognised on such a prestigious platform and among one’s peers for the boundaries we push and for considering our retail environment as a platform for growth and good,” says Michael Clampett, Head of Retail Asset Management at Attacq.
“We definitely consider ourselves to be an innovative player in the retail space, and it is always an honour to have our industry peers recognise our efforts. This has been quite a disruptive year for the mall, and we look forward to finding new ways to create unique experiences for our visitors, while simultaneously increasing turnover for our tenants,” says Johann Fourie, General Manager at Mall of Africa.
Image Courtesy: Supplied