By Our Staff
Nexus Malls, the retail offered of Blackstone Real Estate funds, has announced Amitabh Bachchan as its ‘Happyness Ambassador’.
Said Dalip Sehgal, CEO, Nexus Malls: “We are extremely privileged to welcome Amitabh Bachchan to our Nexus Malls family. He has a remarkable ability to connect with different age groups. We are proud to partner with one of India’s biggest icons to help us deliver Har Din Kuch Naya experiences to our customers.”
By A Correspondent
Actor Ayushmann Khurrana, brand ambassador of Nexus Malls, has launched his second ad campaign for the mall management company with the tagline ‘Shopping to sirf bahana hai, apno ko saath lana hai. It also earmarks the launch of Nexus Malls’ ‘Asli Happyness Wala Sale’ across all its nine assets.
Said Nishank Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Nexus Malls: “As they say ‘Family is a gift that lasts forever’ and what could be a more opportune time than Christmas to celebrate this gift. At Nexus Malls, we have always believed that the true spirit of festivities lies in celebrating it together with your family & friends and through our latest ad campaign we aim to convey the same message amongst our patrons. During this period, across all our malls, we will create multiple engagement initiatives with family bonding at its core. We would like to urge all our patrons to visit our malls and indulge in the festive frenzy.”
Ogilvy Mumbai is the creative agency, and Chrome Pictures was the production house for the ad.
By A Correspondent
Sonic branding agency BrandMusiq has created a new sonic identity and retail soundscape for Nexus Malls’ portfolio of malls in India. As part of the mandate for Nexus Malls, BrandMusiq has developed the ‘master’ Mogoscape and Mogo for the Nexus Malls brand franchise which will be applied across all brand related sonic expressions including activation, advertising, digital, social media and retail spaces.
Commenting on the initiative, Dalip Sehgal – CEO, Nexus Malls said: “At Nexus Malls, it has been our constant endeavor to deliver the same unique experience across all malls in our portfolio. To deliver this unique experience, we came up with Nexus One. Under Nexus One, we will attempt to tap in to the five senses of our patrons and strive to deliver this Nexus experience. The first step in that direction was to have our own music identity and BrandMusiq has helped us curate that. We are delighted to partner with them in the process of curating our Musical Logo. We have already implemented the music across our portfolio of malls and we are delighted with its response.â€
Added Rajeev Raja, Founder, BrandMusiq: “We are very excited to have created the sonic identity for Nexus Malls. Designing bespoke, brand-owned sound for the retail experience is still in its nascent stages and we applaud Dalip Sehgal and the team at Nexus for being one of the early adopters in this field. ‘SoniqSpaces’ the app that we have developed exclusively for retail/ experiential spaces, will be used to roll out the new sonic identity across every mall managed by Nexus. This creates a new platform for our Mogo to touch many new consumers’ lives every day, in a meaningful, consistent manner.â€
With over a decade of experience working in retail and mall marketing, Nishank Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Nexus Malls, has launched seven malls across India and relaunched three others across India. Joshi joined Nexus Malls from K Raheja Corp where he spent close to seven years in two stints. A digital media maverick and communications pro, he leads the Marketing function of the company. In this edition of BTL Baatein, powered by VISCOMM, Nishank Joshi speaks on how BTL is an important marketing activity and revenue-earner for malls
How important is BTL in your industry? We’ve heard of traditional advertising, outdoor and inserts in newspapers… but BTL too?
BTL has formed the very essence for mall promotions and advertising. Given the need to create throbbing and lively environments, there is no better way to make use of the real estate that malls have – their spaces themselves. Interestingly, malls are great spaces for BTL activities too. So, BTL not only is a great way for promoting our brand and get in footfalls but also to generate revenue from brands across the year.
Are there certain types of vehicles that you prefer to employ BTL promotions in this category?
It’s an evolving science. Traditionally malls have stuck to events that revolve around kids & women.However today, there are a plethora of activations that we create. From community events for people in the catchment, to Live concerts and stand up comedies to pure play installations. We are pushing boundaries when it comes to ideas and innovations within malls.
Specifically, how important is BTL to the overall marketing plan at Nexus Malls?
Not considering fixed costs like retainers and licenses, BTL in our malls constitute 60% of our marketing plan. Which means; most of our eggs are in the BTL basket.
Can you also specify the range of activities that you are undertaking and propose to undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?
Just a month and it is a very entertaining mix thus far already. We started off the launch campaign with the hugely successful unplugged musical concert featuring Jonita and Papon. At around the same time we debuted with a first in Navi Mumbai – an Augmented Reality experience where people can come face to face with the wildlife in the Arctic. An awesome experience where people can interact with digital creatures and take pictures and videos of the experience too via a snapshare option. The pictures show the frenzy it has created! Seawoods Grand Central Mall has been positioned as the most fashionable mall in the city, and for that we have created 4 fashion islands representing the most fashionable destinations in the world – New York, Milan, Paris and London. The central installation is a 40 ft fashion maze where visitors can browse through a visual display of fashion trends across the last few decades before they reach the central portion which has an ethereal wedding gown that lights up every time someone steps in. Next up is our summer event that will show case fun activities across continents. It has been a magnificent summer at Seawoods Grand Central Mall alright.
What is/will be the ratio of ATL to BTL in your promotional plans? Also, will this ratio change after the launch phase of a mall or a certain activity?
It is 60:40 today in favour of BTL. This will change to 40:30:30, the last 30% being dedicated to digital ideas and activities.
Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?
While we have an agency on retainer for creative duties, our BTL activations are always awarded on pitches. This becomes necessary as BTL agencies have different skill sets and so every new occasion calls for a new idea and that may need a different agency each time.
In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sure shot avenue than ATL in the retail space?
I would think they complement each other. BTL activation help in engaging consumers at the mall and help build a frenzy that results in shopping, but ATL is what drives them in by telling them what’s happening. So, both are equally important.
While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?
Apart from the usual footfalls and sales we measure customer and retailer satisfaction levels during the initiatives via live surveys. A lotof initiatives require audience participation… so participation numbers, and profile of the people engaged based on age, location of residence, drive time from mall also help in deciding what is needed.
There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?
Oh, BTL is on the rise, no question about that. Trends definitely show that BTL and Digital are slowly replacing ATL in company budgets. The latest mobile brands are testimony to this shift.