Sally Harding shares with us the success story and growth of the in-house multimedia business across Lendlease’s 15 shopping precincts – enabling the retail business to curate and tailor out-of-home media packages for its tenants and local businesses in primary trade areas.
In 2016, after two years of rapid growth in static media sales, the Lendlease Pop Up Media team transitioned its spectacular atrium banners located in the portfolio’s retail centres to digital screens.
To future-proof the growth of the media platform and align with its sustainability goals, Lendlease set out to procure the very latest and most energy efficient LED in the market. The screens selected are a state-of-the-art Green series in the Australian market that use a futuristic and sustainable LED product. It encompasses every prerequisite the customers and the industry demand along with setting new benchmarks in terms of performance and product benefits.
In the first year, the digital screens live-streamed the Melbourne Cup across the portfolio as well as the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony, the AFL Grand Final, and the Face of Cairns Central fashion catwalk.
The screens not only entertain shoppers but also facilitate community engagement through localised messaging, thereby genuinely enhancing the customer experience.
The screens’ introduction expanded the suite of channel formats, with retailers now able to work through a ‘pick ’n mix’ of options including online, offline and physical activations. Every client receives a tailored, personalised proposal. They are then guided through the process by a member of the Pop Up Media team, all of whom have extensive and varied backgrounds in retail management and media sales.
The icing on the cake for the network is the provision to showcase high quality and high definition content including lifestyle and fashion tips, time lapses and scenic video clips from around the world. At a 3mm or 4mm pixel pitch, the screens are a stand out with their life-like picture quality.
From the initial launch, the screens provided an opportunity to connect with the community using content and the capability of the screens to work on a range of initiatives.
As an example, Safety Month at Macarthur Square highlighted messages for customers and retailers on safety at home. Instagram feeds were pulled through from the centres’ pages and surf feeds for centres located near beaches provided localised information.
Following this, a number of local and national community partnerships were born, most notably with Mainie Australia, which works with Indigenous artists to produce printed silk scarves. Working closely with Mainie, the artists’ work was published across the digital board network to create a beautiful national digital art gallery, while supporting the artists through the promotion of the Mainie brand.
Lendlease has a diverse range of property either under construction, under management or both, and late last year an opportunity presented itself at the Brisbane Showgrounds (developed by Lendlease Bowen Hills) to install a screen into its mixed-used Urban Regeneration development. With in-house capability fully established, the team switched on the first screen outside of the retail portfolio, which has now showcased the Royal Wedding, State of Origin, Eurovision and Australia’s first game at the Soccer World Cup.
In April this year, the network launched large format digital into Lendlease’s sub regional network, commencing at Menai Marketplace and Settlement City in Port Macquarie. Menai went live with all advertising slots sold, affirming that the appetite for this medium in smaller centres is as strong as it is in regional and super regional shopping centres.
With 15 screens and counting, we are continually looking for opportunities to expand the network.
