Division A - Public Relations Programs
Category 7 - Promotional/Marketing
Silver Sands Factory Stores Autumn Tides Promotion
Silver Sands Factory Stores
Judges' Award
Research/Situation Analysis:
As the nation's largest designer outlet center, Silver Sands Factory
Stores sees over six million shoppers each year. Due to Silver Sands'
unique location between Destin, Fla. and the Beaches of South Walton
area, seventy percent of these shoppers are tourists visiting these
popular vacation destinations. Labor Day weekend marks the end of
another summer season and with it, traffic and sales slow down
considerably. In an effort to increase traffic during the slower
season, Silver Sands partnered with Beaches of South Walton's Tourist
Development Council for their Autumn Tides program. Autumn Tides is a
series of fall events created to attract visitors to the Emerald Coast
area during the beautiful fall season. In past years, Silver Sands
participated by hosting a Heritage Festival and offering local artist
Donna Burgess' official Autumn Tides watercolor print as a
gift-with-purchase for a ten-day period. Post-event evaluations showed
that shoppers visiting the center were more interested in spending
their day shopping the 100 plus stores than attending a festival. As a
result, Silver Sands' marketing team decided to discontinue the
festival and focus solely on the widely popular gift-with-purchase
promotion.
Objectives: To maximize the 2006 Silver Sands Autumn Tides Event by achieving the following by October 31, 2006:
- A 300% increase in gift-with-purchase redemptions.
- A 300% increase in total sales of receipts redeemed.
- A minimum of 700,000 impressions collectively of print, television and internet media.
Implementation:
- To maximize the event, Silver Sands' marketing team extended the
gift-with-purchase promotion for the entire month of October.
- Silver Sands attended Autumn Tides Media Day to unveil Donna Burgess'
2006 Autumn Tides print and distribute press kits to local and regional
media. An interview on the local ABC affiliate's morning show also
took place.
- The Silver Sands marketing team personally visited
over 100 hospitality, community and media partners to give them gift
bags and prints to display. Each print had a sticker across the top
that detailed the promotion at Silver Sands. (reference enclosed snipe)
- A tenant kick-off meeting was held the week before the promotion to
give each store promotional items including a print to display in their
store, counter cards and brochures.
- Two artist signing
receptions were held at Off 5th, Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet on Saturday,
October 14 and Saturday, October 28 from 1 ¡V 4 p.m. Shoppers had the
opportunity to enjoy refreshments and have their prints autographed by
Donna Burgess.
- Both the promotion and signing receptions were
promoted by heavy marketing and public relations efforts, including
press releases and calendar listings to all local print, television and
Internet media, print and radio advertisements and on-site marketing,
including sidewalk signs and posters.
Evaluation: - While only 740 prints were
distributed in 2005 during the ten-day period, 3,065 prints were
distributed during the 2006 Autumn Tides month long promotion, a 314%
increase over the previous year. When comparing the same time period
between 2005 and 2006, the number of prints given away during the
ten-day period for 2006 still increased by 96%.
- Based on data
provided by Silver Sands Shopper Services, the sum of all receipts
redeemed for the gift-with-purchase totaled over $1.1 million in 2006,
a 323% increase over the previous year. When comparing the same time
period between 2005 and 2006, sales still increased for 2006 by 108%.
- Silver Sands' public relations team took a proactive approach to
present all local media with a print and personally explain the
promotion. With the addition of that and the two artist signing
receptions, the public relations team generated 1,313,910 print,
television and Internet media impressions.
Budget: The total budget for the Silver Sands
Autumn Tides promotion was $11, 450, allotted to the following: $7,600
for Autumn Tides prints, $3,500 for advertising, $150 for community
visits and $200 for the signing receptions. Based solely upon the sum
of all receipts redeemed ($1,123.379.46), extending the duration of the
Autumn Tides promotion resulted in a ROI of $1,111,929.