Campaign: Supa Centa revamp launch

Client: Supa Centa Moore Park

Agency: DDI

*This case study will be featured in the October issue of Marketing Mag.

Background

The Supa Centa in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is already well-known as a place to shop for the home. In recent times, however, it had become a little dated and a $60 million redevelopment was underway to revive the centre.

Positioned adjacent to Australia’s most affluent suburbs, Sydney’s north-east and inner-east, and already boasting 40 leading national retailers, Supa Centa Moore Park is primed to capture several key target market groups. These include young, ambitious, high-earning professionals and affluent, style-conscious families – with an average per capita income 35 percent higher than Sydney’s average. Along with population growth in the main trade area predicted to continue, the redevelopment perfectly positions the centre to meet the needs of these key markets as they grow, and harness the potential of their home-bound enthusiasm. To do this, the Supa Centa needed to establish a brand positioning deserving of its audience’s attention.

By opening its doors to a wide selection of leading national retailers, and also carefully selected boutique stores, Supa Centa Moore Park aims to provide consumers with Sydney’s most diverse and inspiring selection of homewares, gathered in one central location. Strategically positioned on a main arterial route, and with plentiful free parking (a rare find in Sydney), Supa Centa Moore Park can also offer what many of its competitors (such as Dank Street) cannot – easy accessibility.

To attract the right audience, the first crucial step was getting the right retailer mix. Prior to launching the campaign itself, DDI first developed a trade campaign to support Supa Centa in attracting category-leading retailers. This took the form of a tabloid newspaper-style DM piece filled with first-hand endorsements from prestigious names within the retail sector, and prominent figures, who were part of the project. These ranged from the editor-in-chief of Belle magazine, Neale Whitaker, to InDesign Group publisher Raj Nandan, the ‘Retail Doctor’ Brian Walker and prominent styling experts Melissa Penfold and Megan Morton. Other endorsements came from landscape and industrial designers involved directly in the refurbishment project, through to the general manager of King Furniture.

With the success of Westfield Bondi Junction down the road, and a multitude of boutique homewares stores in the surrounding suburbs, the revamped Supa Centa could not be known as just another destination for ‘bulky goods’.

A powerful marketing campaign was required.

Objectives

To launch the newly revamped centre, Supa Centa Moore Park needed a campaign that would elevate it above the shadow of the old outdated centre, differentiate it from other ‘bulky goods’ retail centres and, most importantly, capture the imagination of the increasingly selective and style-savvy consumer.

The client’s brief was to position the Supa Centa in a highly impactful and relevant way to a demanding and educated consumer audience, speaking not just to their practicality, but to their aspirations and creativity. To create a leading lifestyle destination that fosters real inspiration, increasing frequency of visitation and value of purchase.

Strategy

The solution lay in the research, understanding the world in which the consumer lives and what makes them ‘tick’ – a world where art, music, fashion and design collide. A world far away from conventional ‘bulky goods’.

DDI created a campaign that, for the first time in home retail marketing, leveraged the prestige glamour of high fashion into the homewares sector – to genuinely deliver ‘fashion for the home’.

DDI looked to fashion to develop a campaign that could meet Supa Centa Moore Park’s unique challenge, drawing inspiration from an industry where the leading players consistently challenge norms, lead trends and create inspirational designs that consumers yearn to possess. An industry where bold, striking photography plays a crucial role in gaining recognition and resonance with aspiring consumers – the same consumers we needed to engage for Supa Centa Moore Park.

To achieve true authenticity, DDI hand-picked an expert team from the fashion world to deliver outstanding depth and quality. The campaign comprised a series of beautiful black and white shots, with models surrounded by iconic pieces of home décor – evoking the feeling of a high fashion shoot. Vibrant colour splashes were then applied, creating a bold eye-catching look, and also giving an element of surprise, by covering the expected content of any normal fashion shoot (the models’ clothing) and leaving the furniture items to take prominence.

Products selected for the shoot highlighted the diverse range of top products from Supa Centa’s retailers – from boutique stores such as leading Australian design store Top3 by Design, to home styling staples such as Freedom and Harvey Norman. Singular striking iconic pieces were selected to complement the stark, edgy nature of the photo shoot and retain the feeling of a fashion shoot.

The main message ‘Expect Moore’ took centre stage, fusing with the brand and demanding the audience reappraise the shopping centre from a completely fresh perspective, while reinforcing Supa Centa’s Moore Park location.

Execution

The launch campaign’s timing naturally coincided with the unveiling of the newly revamped centre, and the opening of a selection of exciting new retailers in early June.

To bring the campaign to market, a combination of appropriate local channels was selected to reach the primary trade area for Supa Centa Moore Park, as well as other suitable titles that would reinforce the centre’s new prestige positioning and build awareness more broadly.

Local titles included the Sydney magazine, the Wentworth and Southern Couriers. Selected media also included a series in SMH Spectrum and placements in national lifestyle magazine titles Vogue Living, Belle and Inside Out. Impactful outdoor started with the centre itself – using the building’s exterior façade to exhibit a two-sided billboard of vast proportions – and extended to bus backs through local bus depots, and a prominent billboard on an arterial route into the city.

The digital component drove traffic from banner space on smh.com.au and domain.com.au to the newly revamped Supa Centa Moore Park website. This website offers interactive and downloadable content for consumers – such as styling tips from prominent industry experts, items such as a screensaver based on the campaign’s stunning imagery, and references to where consumers can buy the furniture featured in the campaign – to drive deeper engagement and provide content that strengthens the centre’s positioning as a leading expert in home styling.

Inside the centre, striking welcome and directional signage uphold the vibrant colour of the campaign and create integration – reinforcing the message of change afoot.

Results

The campaign has been running across magazines, print, outdoor, transit, digital and traditional media channels since June 2011.

Foot traffic has significantly increased, website visitation has increased phenomenally and retail sales from the new retailers are already well beyond expectation. Importantly, the profile of customers has already shifted drastically, capturing the design-focused, affluent, eastern suburbs customer base.

Weekend visitation thus far has proved so strong that coffee queues in the centre can be half an hour long, and additional cafés are underway. Clearly, the word has spread, and the new centre’s offering is in high demand.