Malls are expanding their kids’ clubs and looking for new partners, raising opportunities for brands to reach young families.
Three top mall management firms are beefing up their kids’ clubs and building additional play areas. Simon Properties, General Growth Properties and The Mills Corp. piloted family loyalty programs last year and are expanding on those successful tests (January 2004 PROMO).
Simon plans to add 17 Kidgits Korner play areas this year (for a total of 47, 14 of them new in 2004) and is prepping to license Kidgits Club characters, probably for 2006.
“Our club is its own brand, and there’s a definite focus on character development with an eye towards licensing,” said Cathi Weiner, Simon’s senior VP-business development.
The 19-month-old club, which caters to kids up to seven years old, has 200,000 members.
Simon is looking for brands to tie into its 2005 calendar of five national and four regional Kidgits Club events; national events run in 89 malls, regional events in 35 to 75 malls. Last year Crayola, Minute Maid, Nestlé, Ocean Spray and Pria piggybacked Kidgits Club activities: Snack bar Pria sponsored Book Blast in 87 malls; Nestlé and Ocean Spray kicked in snacks for a safety-themed Summer Safari in 86 malls. Last month’s Holiday Celebration distributed goodie bags with samples from Crayola and Minute Maid. Retailer offers in goodie bags have gotten as high as 57% redemption.
Candlewick Press has signed on for 2005, and Simon expects several 2004 partners to return, and will add other product categories, including health and wellness brands. Kidgits Club is handled in-house by Weiner and Jayne Stilson, director-business development. Title sponsorships range from $200,000 to multi-millions; non-title local and national deals cost less.
Kidgits’ national Book Blast runs Feb. 26-March 12; Safe Summer Adventure is slated for late May. A health & wellness event is timed to back-to-school, and holiday activities run November-December. Regional events include an environmental-themed Happy Planet event, a carnival, a Mini-Chef tour and a fall Boo Bash.
Simon surveyed 3,525 parents of members in October and found that one-third come to the mall more frequently because of Kidgits events; they spend twice as much per month as average mall shoppers; they spend 45% more on visits with Kidgits activities; and 92% say Kidgits shows the mall cares about families.
General Growth expands into 81 malls by April with Club Noggin, the pre-schooler program that General Growth piloted in five malls last year with Nickelodeon (whose pre-school network Noggin lends its name). General Growth plans to have Club Noggin in 100 malls by the end of 2005 and is looking for national sponsors.
“Support from the community has been fantastic,” said Director of Strategic Partnerships Doug Johnson. “Now that we’re more national in scope, we’ll be looking for sponsors to make the club even better.”
Chicago-based General Growth starts approaching marketers in first-quarter 2005. The mall firm will negotiate sponsorships with some guidance from Nickelodeon “to make sure sponsor presentations are tastefully done,” Johnson said.
Noggin Club members meet once or twice a month for 75 minutes of activities produced by Nickelodeon and executed by local mall marketing teams that have been trained by Nick. The average audience is 50-60 kids; some malls have waiting lists. Attendees get a goodie bag, including special offers from retailers in the mall.
Mills launched Muggsy’s Meadow kids’ club in 25 malls in July and added two PBS Kids Backyard play areas, with plans for at least two more by 2007 (Pittsburgh Mills in 2005, Meadowlands Xanadu in 2006). Muggys’s Meadow in-mall events and online activities cater to kids up to age four, five to eight, and nine to 12. Flying Rhinoceros, Portland, OR, handles the club.
Its characters are proprietary, but its educational platform fits well with PBS Kids Backyards. “This is the first time we’ve taken the essence of the PBS brand and recreated in a 3-D way,” said PBS executive Tracy Beeker. Play areas are co-branded with local station ID to encourage stations to work with the local mall (and advertise mall events).
Other marketers often use PBS Kids Backyards for sampling—Mills’ national partner Coca-Cola has sampled Minute Maid drinks in the play areas.
Mills and PBS Kids execs first met in 2002. PBS wanted an off-screen brand extension; Mills wanted a unique attraction for kids.
“Historically, we’ve been big incubators of new retail concepts. The past few years we’ve tried to bring other relationships to the table to shape the overall shopper experience,” said Petra Maruca, Mills’ group VP-partnership marketing.
Malls without Backyards get appearances by PBS characters like Barney and the Teletubbies “to give local affiliates an event-based platform,” Maruca said.
Adds Beeker: “PBS Kids does a lot of grassroots cause marketing with local stations. That makes us a good partner for Mills.”
PBS Kids also is shopping for marketing partners, especially packaged goods and restaurants. “Our brand is so participatory and highly regarded by parents, the more we can lend that brand to other brands, the better,” Beeker said.
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