Sandton City is an aspirational, super-regional, shopping destination. To ensure that they maintain their position as the top shopping destination in the Southern Hemisphere, they decided to modernise the existing structure, and expand at the same time. Sandton City attracts over 25 million people through its doors each year.
The launch of the new look, the expansion and a new logo consisted of an intensive, integrated four-week campaign involving four different sections: a teaser, a brand campaign, a grand opening launch and an activation.
teaser campaign
A teaser campaign was implemented in the week running up to the launch. This was to create ‘talk factor’ by having a week long range of activities and communication ‘reveals’ that led up to introducing Sandton City as the new ‘gold standard’ when it comes to a shopping centre experience.
In and around Sandton City billboards changed daily to finally reveal that Sandton City is the New City of Gold. When people went to the URL they could enter a competition to win various prizes from retailers at Sandton City.
While the changing billboards were revealing the location of “The New City of Gold”, a team of Angels, were literally stopping traffic in and around Sandton, while handing out pamphlets.
A mobile ‘billboard’ drove around the Sandton area and surrounding suburbs with Angels in the back to create a ‘buzz’.
brand campaign
launch event
This was a VIP event for 2000 guests, hosted by Gareth Cliff and attended by the who’s who of celebrities and industry icons. The event was a high-end occasion, boasting fresh oysters with oyster shuckers, hot and cold canapés, the finest South African sparkling wine, and an impressive array of entertainers, including the Rocketeers and singers Lindiwe Suttle and Tamara Day.
The evening culminated with a performance by renowned violinist, Caitlin, suspended upside down on a heliosphere, playing an electric violin, against a backdrop of fireworks, the largest display ever seen in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
wear gold to win gold campaign
After the launch, to drive footfall into Sandton City, we ran a “Wear Gold to Win Gold” campaign. This was broadly advertised on billboards in and around Sandton City and on Highveld Radio.
If you were spotted by one of the Angels in Sandton City wearing something gold, you were photographed and could win a Sandton Gift voucher and other prizes. The photographs were uploaded to highveld.co.za where consumers could view them.
CLIENT: Liberty Properties
AGENCY: Creative On Demand
ROLE: Creative Direction, Art Direction, Project Management
