It’s a problem that plagues many weary holiday shoppers: forgetting where you parked the car.
But Philips Electronics and the Mall of America have joined forces to help shoppers remember where they parked by using their cell phones. Under the ‘Philips Simplicity Parking Program,’ large signs in the garage tell people to text their parking location to a short code. And while they are shopping, they receive a message back reminding them where they parked.
The reminder comes with a promotional message from Philips. It includes a URL to http://www.amazon.com/philips, the brand’s gift of simplicity program on Amazon.com, which offers free shipping and gift wrap with a promotional code. It’s the second year of the promotion.
“Our brand is all about trying to simplify things, to simplify life’s little complexities,”
Eric Plaskonos, director of brand communications for Philips Electronics North America, said. “We’re trying to simply people’s lives thru technology. It’s a way to bring the brand alive.”
The program is a first for Philips. The company has been kicking around the idea for a few years, but it needed an ideal partner with which to carry out the offering, Plaskonos said. And the Mall of America in Minneapolis was the perfect fit.
The 4.2-million-square-foot-mall offers 520 stores, an indoor amusement park and a walk through aquarium. It has more than 12,500 onsite parking spaces. Each day an average of 50 people have trouble finding their car, Plaskonos said.
The program’s goals are twofold: to create an experience shoppers can easily interact with and to elevate the Philips Electronics’ brand.
“There’s a certain amount of innovation we want to get across,” Plaskonos said.
In-mall signage and posters on elevator bays and garage walls promote the program, which runs through year-end.
Carat brokered the deal between Philips Electronics and the Mall of America; DDB handles message for the program.
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