WESTFIELD GROUP: WESTFIELD SHOPPING CENTRE LAUNCH IN DERBY

Client Feedback:

“Just a note to say a massive thank you for the fantastic event you delivered for our launch. Your support was immense, particularly bearing in mind how difficult the get-in was, but I hope you agree that the result was worth it! Your patience and dedication has truly impressed Michael and I and many many people within our senior management, and VIP’s attending the launch have commented about how amazing the events were.” THE WESTFIELD GROUP

 

Creative Event Brief:

Westfield was opening its first UK shopping centre, in Derby in October 2007. Being the first official UK launch out of all the Westfield Group, this was seen by its Australian shareholders, investors and owners as the most important out of all the launches. This was to be the benchmark or blueprint for the other centre openings to come. Westfield wanted to mark this opening with a launch event with a wow factor that would appeal to all customer demographics. As part of this they wanted us to propose activities and events that would tie in with this concept and that can be rolled over to the weekend. The concept had to differentiated Westfield from its competitors and put Westfield on the map. The launch event was to be inspirational, fun, energetic, creative, accessible, welcoming, positive, stylish, progressive, partnerships, aspirational, informative, high quality, family friendly, word class and safe. Their positioning statement was that they be ‘The preferred Shopping Centre destination in the East Midlands’ and meet all shareholders’ expectations. It was also important to involve the local community involvement for the PR team to drip feed to the local press building up to the big day.

Event Planning & Approach:

We proposed a dynamic concept to make consumers and the press talk about the event for weeks after. Popularity for televised dance contests in the UK was at an all-time high. The 5th series of Strictly Come Dancing running at the same time as the Westfield centre launch. With this in mind we proposed that Westfield host a dance themed launch event under the banner: ‘DANCE DERBY AT WESTFIELD’.

Tess Daly, of BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ hosted on the main press, celebrity and launch day. Celebrity contestants from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ danced on the main Ballroom stage including DJ Spooney, Claire Sweeney and professional dancing stars of the show, Dave Bennett and Lilia Kopylova.

Local dance schools and troupes were involved at the weekend activities to bring in a local angle and to tie in the large footfall of families entering the centre at the weekend with the consult of the cultural representative at Derby Council and the Director of the main dance organisation in Derby ‘Derby Dance’. It was important that the calibre of the local troupes was high to ensure good coverage and good reviews of the weekend.

Event Management Results:

The profile and buzz created around the launch event, along with the high level of pre-production and the execution of the event met the expectations of the Westfield corporate head office in UK and Australia as well as putting Westfield and Derby on the map for all the affinity groups within Derby. The support for Derby based dance groups and other suppliers and artists also met the expectations of the Derby City council who saw local support. Westfield Derby saw 150,000 visitors on launch day and 800,000 people visited Westfield Derby in its first week of opening. This was most successful retail week in Derby's entire history. There were three full days of scheduled performances across four stages featuring internationally renowned artists as well as the best of local dance troupes. At the weekend there were 300 community performers involved in total. There was live TV & Radio coverage from the BBC, ITV, Ram FM and Heart FM. Other coverage included seven pages in the Derby Evening Telegraph, the Sunday Times and also the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald. Trade coverage of the launch day coverage included Retail Week, Drapers, Estates Gazette and Property Week.