One New Change is London’s newest shopping destination, complete with cafés, restaurants and over 54 shops over 3 floors. All set overlooking London’s most famous landmark, St Paul’s Cathedral.

Catch the shops and see the sights, seven days a week at One New Change.
With great places to shop, eat and drink, all overlooking St. Paul’s Cathedral, and with free parking at weekends it’s the perfect place to visit.

Plus it’s just minutes from some of the Capital’s most loved cultural hotspots; Tate Modern, the Barbican and the Museum of London

The City of London is host to a number of great tourist attractions and welcomes 6.3 million visitors to the area each year, many of which are in close proximity to One New Change.

With brands including Topshop, H&M, Banana Republic, Reiss, Hugo Boss, All Saints, Dune, Office, Links of London and Swarovski, there is something for everyone from men’s and women’s fashion to accessories and jewellery. Favourites Nando’s, EAT, SumoSalad, Byron and Zizzi’s are joined by a brand new concept restaurant, Barbecoa, from Jamie Oliver and Adam Perry-Lang – who have also opened a butcher’s shop and a takeaway.

One New Change is a contemporary building with a total of eight floors comprising offices on the top four floors, a public terrace at roof level on the sixth floor, and shops on the Lower Ground, Ground and First Floor. With around 60 stores spanning the three floors, One New Change is one of the largest shopping centres in central London, rivalling other London shopping hot-spots. A panoramic lift in the middle gives direct access to new and exciting views over St. Paul’s Cathedral dome.

Interesting facts about the City of London, Cheapside and One New Change

• The City – the world’s leading financial and business centre – has the unusual ratio of 40 times more workers than residents
• The Square Mile is a location like no other – linked to a staggering one in six jobs in the capital
• The City has 12,000 firms, 7,855 of which are in finance or business – there are 264 foreign banks and 618 legal firms
• 340,000 people work in the City of London, and 112,000 of those are based within a 10 minute walk of One New Change
• 69% of workers in the City are aged 20-39 – and 18% are 40-49 years old
• 9, 200 people currently live locally within the City (80,000 living on the fringes)
• Of the 12.95 million annual footfall at St Paul’s station, 5.1 million (39%) occurs outside peak commuting times. 32% of off-peak exit and entries are at weekends
• One New Change stands at 560,000 sq feet (52,024 sq metres) and is the equivalent of just over 12 football pitches, with 220,000 sq feet of retail space and 330,000 sq feet office space
• One New Change will be home to 3,000 office workers

A Race For Life pop-up stand encouraged additional Bluewater locals to sign-up for Cancer Research UK’s ‘Race For Life’ 2012 event.

Some of the results of this event were:

• Consumers engaging with Race For Life stand and the Cancer Research brand
• Consumers pledged their support at the stand
• Consumers registered for RFL 2012
• Consumers paid on stand or applied their unique voucher code (handed to them at the event) to register online at a reduced rate

Nationwide roadshow handed out samples to women aged 22-24 years (broader target audience is 18-30 years) from the new Kleenex Facial Cleansing range at The Harlequin Shopping Centre on 27/4-29/4/2012. The activity offered a ‘make under’ (rather than makeovers) to consumers and included an MC with a microphone giving a commentary of the activity and encouraging people to get involved.

Some of the Kleenex team were qualified beauty experts and offered advice and tips on make-up removal and skin care. Other members of the team collected data via an iPad. All staff distributed samples and collateral from the engaging Kleenex stand. This event inspired consumers to retailers (Superdrug) for purchasing and also to Kleenex’s Facebook page.

Last month I went to the UK wine show, where many British wine growers (both established and new) were showcasing their products.

The show reminded me how important staff are to the brand, as they are the face of the company. With so many stands at the show and limited time to interact with the consumer, first impressions were vital. It’s the same with any kind of brand experience.

Some of the stands at the show had brilliant staff. They were enthusiastic and informative about the wines we were tasting, which left me feeling highly positive (if a teeny bit merry) and wanting to buy their products and visit them online.  In short, I was converted to the brands that left me with a great experience.

However, at the other end of the spectrum, on one of the stands, a staff member was uncommunicative, miserable and bored! It really made me frustrated to see that this ‘brand ambassador’ really could not be bothered to help us and was not representing or portraying the brand in a positive light. Needless to say, the experience did not leave me wanting to buy any products from them.

It just highlights how promotional staff can make or break an experiential experience.

This negative feeling I had at this particular stand was rather different to the positive feedback I had heard from consumers who had seen one of our very successful campaigns by Weight Watchers at the Glades, Bromley: “The staff on the stand were very informative on the new programme and now I really want to join up.”

Now that’s the kind of response that brand experiences should elicit! It all rests with the staff.

With it being December, you could say that it’s easier for staff to feel positive and more motivated, but this is something that needs to be carried through into the new year and beyond.

Particularly in the current economic climate, it’s essential that brand ambassadors’ morale remains high, as they portray that feeling towards customers. Staff are essential to how a brand is perceived.

So – resolutions for 2012: make sure your staff continue to deliver the key brand messages, that they are professional and have a high level of customer interaction. Enthusiasm is also a must, as this really does leave a lasting impression on consumers.

Have a very merry Christmas and a happy 2012!

The jeans in question were all the rage and bang on trend. They cost me a fair bit of cash but boy were they worth the outlay. I wore them day in, day out. Until, that is the buttons all fell off. Nothing to do with my waist size I hasten to add.

Now, I was mightily upset at this, as I’d paid a fortune and expected better quality so despite having owned, worn and washed them for the last couple of months I was determined to make the store aware of just how disgruntled I was.

I set off, jeans in hand (bag), back to the store fully expecting to get told either “they’re outside of the returns period”, “you’ve washed them so we can’t replace them” or at best “we can only give you a credit note sir”.

Boy was I surprised!

I took them to the desk and the very friendly member of staff didn’t even hesitate to take them back. He offered me a choice of either a brand new replacement pair or my money back. He even apologised for the poor craftsmanship, something he didn’t have to do (he hadn’t sewn the damn things had he?). So I got a brand new pair of jeans even though I had owned the previous pair for two months, effectively meaning I got two months’ worth of free wear. Good service? I thought so.

As such I now shop in that store on a regular basis and in doing so have experienced other instances of good customer service. Like the time I received a cheque out of the blue from them. Turned out they had a price match on a product I’d bought a few weeks previously.

Like the time I bought a tumble dryer that kept blowing my fuse. They gave me a brand new replacement a couple of models higher in the range. Turned out it was something else that was causing the fuse to blow but they didn’t mind as long as I was satisfied with their service! I even knowingly pay more to shop there other than elsewhere because I know I will get good customer service.

There are loads of other times when I’ve been pleasantly surprised at good customer service and it always gives me a good feeling. A feeling that my money spent was worthwhile. And I always go back to that shop/cafe/hotel/bar/garage/restaurant rather than their competitor.

When I experience poor customer service I never return to that businesses. Moreover, I make sure that I tell my friends and family about it so they don’t use that business either.

Lets look at the statistics:

• 71% of consumers ended their relationship with a company due to poor customer service
• 61% of consumers take their business to a competitor when they end a relationship
• ‘Poor experience’ has forced over 10 million consumers in the UK to switch suppliers in the last six months alone
• Only 3% of UK consumers believe that high street retailers offer great customer service

We hear about poor customer service all the time. The BBC even have a TV show dedicated to it. I just don’t understand it. How can these businesses even think about getting ahead of their competitors if they don’t get the customer service right?

In an age of downturns and recessions the single most important factor in business has to be customer retention – that’s where customer service plays its part.

Send a customer away happy and they will pass on the goodwill. Not only do you retain your customer base but you grow it at the same time.

So the moral of this story should be fairly obvious. If you want to retain customers and grow your business then go out of your way to deliver good customer service.

It means everything.

If you’ve got any great (or ghastly) examples of customer service, leave a comment below and tell us about it.

What are your options?

Give up and go on vacation, or take the leap to Europe where an emerging shopping centre market has yet to feel the saturation of product diversity that the UK hit several years ago?

Like European Vacation, little planning can lead to disaster and often without the humorous comedy valued afforded to the movie. With minimal knowledge how can you make a leap in the right direction without getting lampooned (sorry)?

Well, for a start, Europe has some of the most diverse range of shopping centres in the world, from the Grand scale of Dolce Vito Tejo in Portugal (pictured) to the quirky shopping streets of France; each with its own unique mix of consumers with a craving of more choice and diversity than the usual mix of mall fruit retailer’s spargle sellers.

This leaves Europe wide open to a whole variety of UK products that have yet to hit the continent in any meaningful way – from mobile phone accessories to precious metal recyclers.

Having recently placed a high quality mobile accessory retailer in Germany, I was surprised to learn that centres (and consumers!) in Poland also wanted this. With some of the most inexpensive retail space around, this seemed like an ideal opportunity to expand their offering – a mall retail no-brainer.

The interesting thing about the Polish mall retail market is that Polish people will go out of their way to buy a UK or Americanised product.

Why? These are aspirational purchases, seen as a symbol of status to be shown off to friends and peers. Any genuine brand affiliation to the UK or the USA, commands a higher price than a like for like product that has been produced and branded domestically.

With a large proportion of shopping centres in Europe being built around supermarkets, the shopper experience on the continent is a very different one, too.

Shopping centres in Germany are often seen and used as a meeting place for a quick beer and a bite to eat, even at 11am. With cultural differences and a healthier attitude to alcohol on the continent, you will often find alcohol retailers often next to a pizza or kebab outlet on the mall.

What is often shunned in the UK is embraced in Europe, leaving a whole range of products and services available to our European cousins that the UK would simply decline.

My advice is not to be put off by the unknown. With a helping hand – which we provide – even the smallest retailer can find European expansion a fruitful endeavour. Even with no strawberries in sight and with the right attitude, you needn’t find yourself in a lampoons style adventure trying to open your business up abroad.

What have you got to lose?

There are many parts of retailing that are beyond your control, the environment, market and resource competition. But everybody knows that the aim of the game is to get people to purchase from you rather than anybody else and this comes down mainly to the ‘Retail Mix’.

How do you get the mixture right?

Between 2001 and 2010 town centre sales increased 1.5%, but out of town retail grew by 11.5%. This is because (despite the recession) people have more money in their wallet than time on their wrist and are increasingly looking for a convenient location where they can do all their shopping, quickly.

This is where shopping malls and retail parks are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest.

When retailing in a shopping mall you need to think less as an individual retailer and more like a department of the mall. The centre is taking care of most of the ingredients for you, providing a great atmosphere and ambience, in a convenient location with great facilities.

So how do you make your department stand out?

Your product or service needs to add to the merchandise assortment being offered by the centre. You can provide width by offering something new that isn’t being offered by anybody else, or you can provide depth by offering a better choice of something already offered.

Communicate your image better by having a good looking stand, with clear product display and uniformed staff. Offering an educated service with good returns policy, and possibly even deliver the product to the consumers car/home.

But to really differentiate yourself from competition think about your price point. Cheap isn’t always best; higher prices convey quality and a perception of quality coupled with a positive experience by the customer ensures a positive reference and repeat business.

That’s not to say you need to overcharge for everything, it’s about having a good price/quality balance to ensure you don’t leave a sour taste in the mouths of consumers.

Mix the balanced ingredients together then bake for a dwell-time of 60 minutes, and you could soon be enjoying a slice of retail cake – just like Sir Philip.

In October, I was lucky enough to take my wife and son to Barbados for a couple of weeks. The only downside was that the in-laws had invited themselves, but I managed to mitigate this issue by convincing them to stay in another hotel on the island!

So, I was naturally quite pleased with myself when we disembarked in to that Beautiful wall of heat that marks the real start of a long distance holiday.

This was my 3rd time in barbados, and as someone from the OOH industry I’ve always got an eye on different forms and uses of outdoor advertising. Barbados is particularly interesting as they tend to be into branding public benches, but for the obvious reasons the brand message is often obscured!

So it is with this low expectation in mind that I saw one of the cleverest pieces of outdoor advertising for a long time.

As I was guiding my (extended) family across the runway in the searing heat (which is a feat in itself as barbados is wonderfully slack on health and safety) I saw a sign on the arrivals entrance saying in huge letters “Welcome to Finland”. I think the father-in-law spotted it at the same time and you could almost see him doing some jetlagged mental calculations on flight times and so on.  I said “bugger, look we’re in the wrong country!”.

As we got closer the creative execution became clearer, under the ” Welcome ” statement was a very small “(only kidding)”. The whole ad was shrouded in ice and snow, with just a simple Finland web address as the call to action. I loved it for many reasons:

• It was the first brand message that you saw as you arrived, so naturally had high impact.
• The power of the message was amplified by the searing heat.
• It was funny and this created natural word of mouth (I’m blogging it!).
• The planners had done their research, barbados is full of Brits….and Finland is a hop and a skip away from the UK.

The only improvement I would have made was to build some experiential in to the activity…Finnish-looking people in fur hats in the arrival hall giving away ice cold branded face towels ?

That would have topped off the execution perfectly and left me with a lasting reminder for the rest of the holiday.

Have you seen a piece of outdoor advertising that could have been more memorable with experiential? Leave a comment and let us know.

I’m talking about mall retail standards (if the title of this post seems to be a tad tenuous), and I’d like to share some of the advice we give to new retailers who rent RMUs, kiosks and space in our shopping centres.

Mall retailing is so much more than what retailers are in any given mall and what they are offering. It’s about what the customer sees and experiences – and just paying the rent isn’t enough if you’re a retailer who wants to stay put.

Let’s start with the environment mall retailing takes place in and a very basic truth – shopping centres have to compete for customers, just like retail outlets do.

To be successful they need to ensure that every customer coming though their doors has a pleasant, positive experience, and this often starts with the shoppers first port of call – inside the doors of the shopping mall.

Mall retailers are often the first thing that a shopper will see when then they enter a shopping centre due to their prime, central location on the mall, and first impressions count!

Not only is it essential for the shopping centre to ensure its mall retail offering is to a high standard of visual merchandising and customer service, but it also provides a great opportunity for mall retailers; to capture the interest of consumers as they walk past other retail outlets. In some ways, being seen alongside them is an opportunity in itself.

Capturing the interest of passing mall-goers can be achieved easily, and without a great deal of outlay, by following some basic standards of mall retailing best practice.

This is among some of the guidance that we pass on to all our retail clients at Brandspace. If you are a mall retailer, we’d suggest following these mall retailing best practice pointers:

• Make your stand visually appealing, and think about effective merchandising
• Keep the stand and floor area clean and free of clutter
• Use professional Point of Sale to deliver your message
• Ensure staff are well presented in company branded uniforms – this really helps customers to feel confident in making a purchase from mall retailers
• Staff should be trained in sales and customer service, interact with the shoppers, and have good product knowledge – this means being alert to people looking at your products, who might need assistance
• Be ready to trade before the first customer walks through the door, and trade throughout the centre opening hours

These rules may seem simple, but I can tell you from a lot of personal experience they are very effective.

They will ensure you can compete with the in-line retailers and make your retail tenancy a successful one.

What standards would you like to see more of in mall retailing? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Firstly, one of the primary benefits of external commercialisation partners is that they can provide a significant penetration into the marketplace due to the depth and breadth of their contacts.

This range of contacts alone, from agency planners/buyers (ATL & BTL) to retailers to service suppliers take considerable time and effort to amass and maintain. Then there is the human and financial resources needed, and the reason (which I’ll come on to later), to speak directly with brands on a regular basis; activity which venue partners would not normally do because of what’s involved.

Secondly, we’re not insular to any one industry – we can see all of them across any one industry we are in and beyond it.

What do you think you could do with an industry contact book that big? Do you think you’d get any use out of it if you worked for one type of venue group?

How about, say, just one shopping centre?

Think about it; Airports, railway stations, leisure venues, retailers and iconic destinations all make up the breadth of activity that brands and retailers choose to operate in – all separate from shopping centres.  What would, say, the in-house commercialisation team at a single shopping centre be able to tell you about the experiential buying habits of brands?

It`s the visibility across the full spectrum of market possibilities that is real insight, and it`s invaluable.

Therein lies your (our) reason to have another conversation with industry contacts.

Brandspace recently commissioned research into brand-owners opinions of shopping centres as desirable venues. As we have respected relationships with the brands who are buying this type of media – not just in retail – it was easy for us to do.

It was also easy for our contacts to respond to us. They know us, trust us and, perhaps more poignantly, they know they won’t offend anyone if some of their feedback wasn’t too favourable about any particular venue.

One highlight from this research was that shopping centres account for just 40% of where all experiential activity in the UK takes place. So a large chunk does happen in retail venues – but most of it doesn’t!

Our wider industry knowledge and experience means that we can devise and deliver an optimal commercialisation plan, filled with appropriate, relevant and complimentary activity. We can do this quickly and consistently – at a fraction of individual in-house cost.

Thirdly, there is the infrastructure: This provides economies of scale across sales, administration and delivery, which means that this is provided to our partners at a standard at least as good, usually better, than they would be able to replicate, but importantly at a fraction of the cost than if they were to do it themselves.

You can, if you like, dispute the metrics of the above points I’ve mentioned. However, consider this…

If you take a look around the market, what you won’t be able to dispute is that there are fewer venues (and becoming less) which now opt for in-house commercialisation teams – regardless of the type of venue.

Ask yourself: If venue commercialisation was that easy and inexpensive to do, and do as successfully as, say, Brandspace does it - wouldn’t all venues be doing it themselves?

Venue partners achieve tangible value from working with commercialisation partners that are able to present them to a wider and deeper range of opportunities that ultimately delight and deliver.  There really is a `service` to be bought.