The Simon Property Group, seeking to build its brand message and drive greater traffic to its shopping centers, will on Tuesday launch a Web site called Simon Said.
“It’s primarily an editorial platform,” Chidi Achara, global creative director for Simon, told WWD.
For the past 18 months, marketing activities at Simon have centered on what Achara described as “a rebranding exercise retelling the Simon story as a stylish, fashionable shopping destination…We want to be increasingly proactive and energetic in letting the world know that whatever your taste level, budget, or style, you can find it at Simon. Everything that we are doing from a brand perspective is about raising perceptions about Simon, who we are and what we offer, driving traffic to our centers, and supporting the business of the retailers in our centers.”
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New editorial content will appear on Simon Said daily, and the site will direct viewers and shoppers to where they can find products being featured.
The site has been developed by CA Creative, a New York City-based digital and social media agency.
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For content, “We are teaming up on an ongoing basis with serious fashion influencers and style taste-makers in a way that no other [mall operator] has done before,” Achara said. Bloggers as well as retailers will also be tapped to create content. The site, Achara added, will guide shoppers through trends and styles of the season and include stories on fashion, beauty, design, culture, home decor and food.
In addition, Simon, the nation’s largest retail real estate company, has begun working with “some pretty sophisticated technology that will allow us to link viewing of our content to visits to our centers,” Achara said.
Simon Said is content-only, and not transactional. The company had no comment on the possibility of getting into e-commerce in the future, possibly via Simon Said.