Brand Love is the “holy grail” of Marketing. But of course, Marketers in search of brand love need to not underestimate the difference between human love and brand love. For example, the study, conducted by Tobias Langner and colleagues at Bergische University, found that brand ‘love’ is more rational, transactional and dependent on receiving rational benefits, whereas human love is more altruistic in character. But when it comes to managing the growth of Shopping Centers this takes on a whole new importance as this industry, is just realizing the catalytic nature of Consumer Marketing and Brand Love into driving investment returns.

By Nassos Lezos, Theodoros Pantis and Yula Mega.

Nassos Lezos is the Managing Partner & CEO of My Spectrum International. Theodoros Pantis is a My Spectrum partner based in Athens. He leads the Assets & Retail Division internationally. Yula Mega is head of Strategy across My Spectrum’s Divisions and is based in Athens.

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Human love vs. Brand love.

Despite the fact that human love is very different than Brand Love, we can still draw upon common elements especially from the process of attraction. When it comes to people attraction, think about who are you attracted to (loved one, friends, partners) and why? We find that the commonly risen answers are:

• Awareness and social activity – we find people that we are attracted to via our social life, work and hobbies. So, if someone is keeping to himself and is isolated from the world, it would be almost impossible to generate feelings of attraction by other human beings.
• Ability to intrigue and inspire – no one is attracted to people that do not intrigue them in some way.
• Areas of common interests and point of views – as people we usually “flock with birds of the same feathers” so personality and character play a big role in who we are attracted to.
• Coverage of needs and wants – in our human relationships we are attracted by people who are both, compassionate and understanding but also enabling, participatory and complementary to our needs and wants.
• And yes, as superficial and subjective “beauty” is, it plays a big role in attraction – so does with Brands, but here beauty takes on the meaning of quality, convenience, ambience, etc.
• Authenticity and Consistency – we want our relationships to be authentic and trustful, we hate being lied to and when we are confronted with unexpected behaviors, we become disappointed and disassociated frequently letting go of the relationship all together.
• Feeling of magic and emotional connection – happiness, connection and passion are the ingredients that make any human relationship long lasting.

When a Brand is able to put itself out there and manages to evoke such feelings then, it succeeds to generate engagement, loyalty, and emotional connection.

Moreover, within the spectrum of human emotions (e.g. love, anger, sadness) marketers need to consistently manage brands in a way that allow them to be authentically consistent otherwise, they may evoke different feelings on the opposite but same scale of love such as anger, disappointment and annoyance.

So how does a Brand go about to evoke Brand Love?

The art & science of Destination Marketing.

Today, a shopping mall is not a novelty concept. It is no longer new and exciting and malls are popping up in all types and sizes around our cities everywhere. It has become a mainstream concept and therefore, if not reinvented (refer to Reinventing the Shopping Center Model: From property to lifestyle destination Brand ecosystems, insight) and differentiated it risks to become commoditized and highly competitive.

The solution is differentiation via Shopping Center branding. Within the reinvention model, Marketing plays a key role in Shopping Center management. The new game is all about creating new lifestyle center love Brands that are able to drive customer (visitor) loyalty, engagement and satisfaction and this requires within a relationship ecosystem framework that is rich in conversations, stories, experiences and offerings. The future belongs to those operators and tenants willing to break from yesterday’s patterns and practices and fully embrace a consumer and brand driven future within a new connection economy.

Within this scope, Marketing is called to address and manage the following critical success levers in building Brand Love:

Brand Positioning (Personality & Character).

It all starts here. Who do you want your Brand to be?

What kind of destination (ecosystem components)?

Who does it want to attract (target audience)?

How is it different and unique versus other destinations in the area?

These are some of the questions a differentiated brand positioning is called to address in order to define the Brand character and Brand personality which are highly dependent on the wants and needs of specific visitor and tenant audiences it wants to attract into a long-lasting relationship.

Brand Voice (Exposure).

So, you have decided who you are! Now is the time to go out there and make your brand visible and announced. Through careful communication crafting and planning you want to ensure that you reach the right people via the appropriate channels with the right messages that create relevant excitement and anticipation about who you are and what you have to offer. You want to book “a first date!

Brand Experience (Authenticity & Connection).

A unique personality and character are conveyed authentically via the designed destination experience through the mix of services, tenants, architecture, environment, and ambience. Experience is the first moment of truth for destination brands – does the visitor you want to attract get the experience he/she expects? As the end of the “first date” goes – what has resonated so that they want to see you again? Did you meet the expectations you created?

Then the brand experience, needs to be reinforced again and again (it then becomes trustworthy) but also, reinvigorated enough so that to ensure continued excitement and engagement.

Brand Storytelling (Point of View).

Your brand point of view is consistently reinforced through the creation of exiting “stories”. Within a connection economy these demand to be participatory and engaging. They are all about opportunities to allow for visitor and tenant engagement. They take the form of celebrations, new services, signature events, new launches, activations, etc. ideally worthy enough to be shared and expanded via partnerships, media and word of mouth.

Brand Engagement (Relationships).

When all of the above is consistently looked after, the end result is strong, long-lasting relationships across the different stakeholder groups of a destination venue ecosystem (visitors – tenants – community – investors).

A new frame of reference.

When consumers visit malls, they are looking for experiences that go well beyond traditional shopping. Furthermore, the e-commerce revolution and the rise of digital technologies are fundamentally reshaping consumer expectations and shifting the function of stores toward useful and entertaining customer experiences.

Key trends that offer opportunities for differentiation and reinvention are:

REVITALIZATION: the shopping center becomes a lifestyle hub

SHOPPERTAINMENT: when shopping centers turn into lifestyle shopping resorts

AMENITY VALUE: a hospitality destination with “5 start hotel” service benchmark

CONNECTIVITY: from technology leveraged to power the system to driving connectivity and a market of ONE

MEDIA CURRENCY: an established destination ecosystem managed as content & media

What it takes to win.

A strong destination Brand is able to deliver capital value by coordinating and strategically addressing consistently the following factors:

TENANT BRAND MIX:

An aligned and innovative Tenant Brand mix delivers against a balance of needs against:

• Creating the appropriate variety (industry width & depth) according to a lifestyle ecosystem Brand Positioning,
• Satisfying the wants & needs of the target audience visitors and catchment area demographic profiles (sector width & depth),
• Meeting sales revenues per square meter expectations,
• Integrating global benchmark standards.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATION:

A marketing approach to stakeholder management is key to deliver recruitment, retainment and engagement. This means that a threefold approach to Marketing management is deployed: Consumer Marketing, Tenant Marketing, Stakeholder Marketing (community & investors) with clear scope and focus.

Moreover, it is critical to establish and align with investor groups early on the importance of Marketing investment. Love Brands do not happen by accident but, rather they are crafted into resilience through careful and intended craftmanship of strategy, tools and required investments. They leverage and invest into 360° communication 365 days per year and not just around sales periods. They share stories and news across different media platforms and provide opportunities for excitement and engagement for their visitors and tenants continuously reinventing themselves.

TENANT ENGAGEMENT:

The first “battle” of tenant engagement is won over the battleground of footfall and sales performance. This is the oil that drives a well-run engine of healthy tenant relationships. It is equally important however, to establish and create other engagement connections via ensuring tenant involvement and tenant communication – they need to feel that they are part of a business ecosystem that is providing more than just retail space to occupy.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE:

Operational excellence is firstly a key part of the ecosystem experience and secondly a driver of financial efficiency and productivity. The majority of malls that are managed as “real estate” and not as lifestyle ecosystem destination Brands, overlook the importance of the first and overestimate in focus the importance of the second. They also lack a key Marketing role in their organizational structures that enables the orchestration of strategies and execution around a consistent reflection of the Brand positioning, personality and character.

As a love Brand, a shopping destination adds value across the stakeholder chain:

• Creates added value experiences for visitors and shoppers
• Optimizes tenant sales performance
• Achieves highest rental potential yields
• Maximizes commercial income
• Enhances capital value and “sell-ability potential”

See also: Reinventing the Shopping Center Model: From property to lifestyle destination Brand ecosystems.

WE ARE SOLUTIONISTS AND CONNECTORS.

Connecting the right strategy, tools and networks to our client’s needs, providing a one stop solution via hands on engagements. Delivering end-to-end growth support across the different phases of our clients’ journey via a highly integrated service model.

WE ARE VALUE CATALYSTS.

Igniting and fueling viable value across the stakeholder chain of a business organization:

Customer Value: Bringing FMCG consumer and customer centric capabilities across industries, crafting a distinct and unambiguous customer-centric value proposition delivering on experiences that go well beyond traditional interactions.

Organizational Value: Working together with our clients to build best in class organizational transformation delivering best capabilities for best service, viable integration, and growth, building the business of tomorrow, today.

Investor & Shareholder Value: Reinventing and transforming business investments into customer-driven viable returns.

WE ARE DESTINATION BRAND BUILDERS.

We believe in the power of brands to create exponential value.

We are reinventing the traditional shopping center management paradigm and offering.

We are destination “builders” bridging the needs of shopping center owners, consumers and tenants.

We are experts in turning around performance or accelerating growth and provide a one stop solution for our Shopping Center clients.

We treat and manage Shopping Destinations not just as real estate but also as content and media generating authentic experiences and additional revenue streams.

We speak the language of consumers, advertisers and real estate.