Work heats up with season shift!

As spring and summer approaches, the people of Perth are losing layers and day by day smiling brighter about the good riddance that is winter! There is a supposed excitement about the town that comes from knowing the seasons are to change and we are soon to be in the midst of care-free summer frivolity. For anyone that has ever worked on a new season fashion launch will know that this easy optimistic serenity I speak of does not exist, but excitement does!

The past few weeks have been the best (and steepest) learning cures I have ever experienced! With staff shortages and shuffles for a variety of reasons I really got to sink my teeth into some fantastic PR and Marketing projects leading into the Spring/Summer Fashion season for Westfield Carousel!

To get our centre, retailers, customers and staff #SSReady (spring Summer Ready), the summer fashion program consists of several events, new promotional installations, fresh collateral, new competitions and (one of the most important aspects this season ;) social media engagement. To utilize the marketing efforts of our social media sites best  the tagline for the campaign is ‘#SSReady’ next time you’re googling away have a search; you might just find some tips!

One of the big learning’s I have attained of the past few weeks (as I am sure many of my colleagues would be finding also),is the importance of presenting with clarity a consistent  message to across all promotional channels. With so many competitions on, new store openings, events needed attending prioritizing web space, mall promotional activations and direct marketing is a challenge constantly grappled with! We don’t want to bombard customers, but we want to create the most awareness as possible for these campaigns and deliver the best possible results for our retailers!

On particular event that was successful for our retailers and customers was our very first Westfield Carousel VIP day! The day treated 300 of our lucky customers to special offers and deals, lolly buffet, mocktails, goody bags, free style advice, make-up touch ups, express hand massages, hair curling, eye brow waxing, entertainment and more! The day was so much fun and really fostered my love for event planning and activation.

To see the full report for the day click here.

Alternately, I have attached a photo of my colleagues and I below:

A 'WIP'- The Westfield Way!

Hello fellow near-graduates/future associates/colleagues/competition (maybe?)!

My name is Shannon and I have been lucky enough to secure a placement at Westfield with their P.R and Marketing team in their Carousel Centre Management Office! 
 

Quite familiar with the business already having worked there as Concierge for almost a year I could hardly wait to start contributing to some of the campaigns I had previously only been briefly exposed to. I didn't realise just how "brief" this exposure was until I started with the Marketing and PR team back in July.....



The first day as a part of my new team we went to one of the coffee shops in the centre to conduct a WIP (Work in Progress). The WIP outlines almost everything that is going to take place in and around the centre for the next 2-3 months; the budget, who is responsible, where the money is coming from and most importantly WHY are we doing it. I guess to give everyone an insight to why we do specific campaigns it's important to understand the unique environment of Shopping Centre public relations and stakeholder mapping. 
 

As Marketing/ PR you've an obligation to Westfield as the property manager, ultimately everything we do needs to increase (or at least not be to the detriment of) the value of the property. Furthermore you have an obligation to the tenants of the centre that depend on you to drive traffic to the centre. Many of the businesses in the centre don't have any public relations knowledge or marketing expertise. To be honest it was when we were going through the WIP and discussing responsibility to tenants that for the first time I really felt like I had a desirable skill set/ unique knowledge. Furthermore we have an obligation to society to be a good corporate citizen and of course, last but not least you have an obligation to consumers and to fill their every need in an easy, accessible FAST way. In the current retail environment anything else deems you simply irrelevant.  


It was my first day to this side of the business and I already was getting an idea of how fast paced PR & Marketing is in the real world. Keeping up with all the stakeholders alone was going to be a mission. I couldn't believe when my Marketing Manager so easily rattled off the store managers by name of over 100 stores..(seriously!) Of course I was over the moon about the opportunity, to which I would give my absolute best, because- as I was to learn, anything less than your best is just not the Westfield Way.
 
While the company is retail leaders in the US, UK and New Zealand also, their Australian site is linked here for those who want to get a better idea (or maybe even want to have a bit of a shop!) Westfield Australia or to see some of my contributions and Carousel specific events click here: Westfield Carousel. 
 
Blog again soon!