Cadillac put an upscale spin on the old cars-parked-in-the-mall idea by displaying vehicles in Atlanta's posh Phipps Plaza mall. The sponsorship and branding campaign, which began in July, includes brand ambassadors educating shoppers on the weekends and free valet parking for Cadillac owners at a branded garage. It has worked so well, the automaker will roll it out in a similarly high-end Florida mall next week.
Cadillac and its parent company, General Motors, believes they can reach Cadillac’s demographic–deep-pocketed consumers 45-52 years old and 65-70 years old–at upscale shopping malls such as Phipps. "We've been getting a lot of positive feedback from mall customers who have checked out the cars," Cadillac regional marketing manager John Orth says. "People got a chance to sit in an Escalade when they never had the chance before. I had an African-American couple come up to me after they sat in one and said were going from there to a dealer."
The brand has received about 500 leads a month from the Phipps campaign. "In most promotions, 500 leads a month would be pretty low. But considering it's Phipps Plaza, that number is pretty high. Not many people who shop there are willing to give up their personal information," Orth says. "We like where we're at with this program. It's getting done what we want to get done, which is have consumers at the plaza stop in their tracks and say, 'Wow!'"
Among the ways Cadillac generated—and hopes to continue generating–those “wows”:
- It had brand ambassadors on hand for product demos on Saturdays and Sundays, but switched that to Fridays and Saturdays based on mall traffic reports. Starting Nov. 1 and through the holiday shopping season, the ambassadors will be there daily.
- The brand will sponsor the very-popular mall Santa Claus. Since the line to see Phipps' Santa is traditionally as long during the week as it is on the weekends, the mall will allow Cadillac owners one day to have Santa to themselves. Owners of Cadillacs will be contacted by mail and allowed to set up an appointment to visit Santa.
- Two Cadillacs will be on display with Santa, bringing the mall's total to seven. The brand will continue to rotate the other five vehicles that are being displayed.
- A cocktail party held on a Sunday after mall hours last month, in conjunction with luxury home goods merchant Frontgate, drew about 250 customers and Cadillac owners. Attendees received an exclusive look at the cars on display. "Many people, when they left, asked when the next party was going to be," Orth says.
Because of the higher-than-expected number of leads and the positive consumer feedback, Cadillac and mall partner Simon will roll out the marketing program to Simon property Town Center at Boca Raton in Boca Raton, FL. The Cadillacs were scheduled to enter the mall Nov. 1, but Hurricane Wilma forced the program's start to be moved back a week.
At Town Center, a regional shopping center with about 10.5 million visitors annually, General Motors brands Saab and Hummer will be incorporated. The initial plan is to have the new Hummer H3 and the Saab 9.3 convertible on display. Orth says Cadillac expects to roll out the campaign to 10-12 more malls in the future.
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