COMMUNITY RELATIONS
12
HEART
TO HEART
Christmas came early last year to Salitre Plaza.
To mark its 15th anniversary, the Bogota shopping
center held a fundraiser to help provide medical
treatment to 15 low-income children suffering
from heart disease.
According to Salitre Plaza, every year some
10,000 children are born with heart disease in
Colombia, and more than half of them have no
access to health services. So the center partnered
with the Fundación Cardioinfantil to develop
and run the “Saving Hearts” campaign, in keeping
with its own tagline, “Where Bogotá Has its Heart.”
During the month of November, Salitre Plaza
asked its shoppers to make a donation to the
foundation, whatever they could afford. Those
who did received a campaign-branded bracelet
as a show of thanks for their generosity.
On November 26, the center held a big bash
to wrap up the campaign and make its $70,000
donation presentation to the foundation. It invited
the 15 donation recipients and their moms to
attend the celebration that also featured celebrity
appearances and live entertainment.
The campaign finale proved to be a good
traffic generator and the center did what it could
16
TACTICS /DESIGNING THE HOLIDAYS
Days of
Parking
to extend its effect online through its website,
Facebook and YouTube, leading right into the
heart of the holiday shopping season.
Last December 13, holiday shopping at Mall of
America (MOA) got a whole lot easier. That's
when the top tourist destination launched "The
12 Days of Parking," a contest in which MOA
reserved a dozen front-row parking spots to give
away over the 12 days leading up to Christmas.
Each winner got a spot to use for an entire day
and a $25 MOA gift card.
The mall started telling people how to win one
of the spots on December 6 via its Facebook and
Twitter accounts. It also got some help from local
media contacts and bloggers, who used their
own sites to host the giveaway.
"Past VIP parking events have proven that a
close spot with little hassle goes the distance with
guests," said Maureen Bausch, executive VP
of business development, at the time.
"We have expanded this year's experience to
reach a significantly larger group of people and
expect even greater success."
In addition to the contest, MOA offered a virtual
butler as part of its VIP parking service. Guests
had their own number to text for directions to the
mall, general queries and gift ideas.