Why Shopping Centers Need Branding

Branding a shopping center can be an important element of success. As the retail market continues to focus on experience, creating a brand and brand characteristics can create value for stakeholders and attract new consumers. It is a way to stand out in an increasingly competitive retail market.

“A brand is much more than just a logo. The branding process is intentional and can be broken down into a few phases; strategy and positioning, placemaking, design, and execution,” Matt Dean, creative director at Beta, tells GlobeSt.com. “Each one of these components is a necessary element in creating a project that has a thoughtful and consistent brand.”

Shopping center branding will follow a similar strategy as corporate and personal brands. The goal is always the same. “A brand is a person’s emotional feeling toward a place, product, or service,” says Dean. “For shopping center branding, this is the core principle that the attributes of a center all come together to create the projects brand. Attributes may include visual design and branding, verbal branding, on-site amenities and placemaking initiatives, the retailers at the center and a series of additional brand touchpoints.”

For landlords, branding can also boost leasing activity. “Landlords are seeking faster leases, higher rents, better tenants, accelerated entitlements, and a devoted consumer base,” says Dean. “While branding cannot solve for all of these, it can be used as a strategic tool to achieve greater success within each category.”

For consumers, branding can help decipher places that identify with their personal interests. “From the consumer perspective it is the notion of identifying a place, product, or service with their lifestyle and personal values,” says Dean. “This can be seen in many great brands such as Nike, which is the feeling that anyone can be an athlete, and Harley Davidson, a lifestyle of freedom. A shopping center can become a consumers third-place by aligning the brand of the center with the values of the target audience.”

There are five keys to creating a successful brand at a shopping center: connect with the target audience to create a devoted fan base; attract aspirational tenants for a better merchandising mix; enhance the leasing transaction process; accelerated entitlements; and increasing the value of a center for the stakeholders.

First, to connect with a target audience, Dean says, “Develop a brand that answers for the emotional wants and needs of the target audience in order for them to identify with the center. This will create a devoted fan base that will spend time at the center and bring their friends and family to enjoy the center.” In attracting new customers, the brand needs to tell a story of the marketplace. “Being able to tell the story to the marketplace in a compelling way as well as having strategic marketing deliverables will help to attract interest from aspirational tenants to the project,” says Dean.

Landlords will be able to enhance the leasing process by leveraging a strong brand. “Creating strategic deliverables along with having the leasing team well educated about the projects brand will create a strategy and process that will enhance the leasing rate of a project,” says Dean. Landlords will also be able to accelerate entitlements to add value to the center. “Cities are seeking to understand the overall vision and benefits of a project,” says Dean. “With a compelling brand and brand deliverables, such as a storybook, it is easier to explain the vision of the center by creating an emotional response to the project.”

Ultimately, the goal is to create value for stakeholders, and this is the biggest benefit of creating a brand at the shopping center. “Throughout the branding process the main goal is to increase the value of a center for the stakeholders,” says Dean. “Being able to attract aspirational tenants, create a strong consumer base, and an accelerated leasing process will lead to an asset with increased value and higher rental rates for the years to come.”