Situation
Shopping is no longer a quick run into a dark mall to grab a forgotten birthday present; shopping has become an experience — a time for families to relax in a park, girlfriends to share a bottle of wine on a patio and for couples to reconnect over a gourmet meal. CenterCal’s The Village at Meridian offers Treasure Valley residents this unique, experiential opportunity. Red Sky was tasked with building awareness and interest for The Village at Meridian’s offering of upscale apparel, specialty retail, dynamic outdoor spaces and special events.
Strategy
To elevate awareness and help differentiate The Village at Meridian, Red Sky recommended and led the following public relations efforts:
- Media Relations Campaign
- Pitched stories on economic impact, hiring practices, construction innovation and environmental considerations to trade and local media prior to grand opening celebration
- Event Support & Facilitation
- Hosted VIP sneak-preview event for community business leaders, key social media influencers and local media
- Led media-focused portion of the grand opening celebration
- Social Media Campaign
- Developed usage guidelines and managed social media platforms seven days a week, leading up to and including live coverage of grand opening event
Results
- Results were captured Sept. 4-Oct. 24, 2013 leading up to grand opening event
- The Village at Meridian received press from eight Treasure Valley news outlets:
- Idaho Business Review
- Idaho Statesman
- Idaho Press Tribune
- Boise Weekly
- KIVI Fox 9/Channel 6
- KTVB Channel 7
- KBOI Channel 2
- The Meridian Press
- Total airtime was 8.8 hours; total ad value from all media outlets was $169,620.
- Red Sky took over all social media channels on Oct. 1.
- Before Oct. 1, The Village had 4,368 likes on Facebook. Oct. 1-24 saw an increase of 2,345 likes — bringing the total of likes to 6,713.
- Red Sky created the hashtag #VMgrandopening to push out to followers on Twitter. The hashtag reached over 19,000 Twitter accounts and made 103,000 impressions.