Avenues Mall wins gold at ICSC Mena Retailer Awards
MUSCAT: At the 2017 Middle East and North Africa Shopping Centre and Retailer Awards held recently in Dubai, Oman Avenues Mall was the recipient of the coveted Gold Award for the Best ‘Cause Related Marketing Campaign’ – for its Avenues Children’s Garden.
The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) presents the awards, which this year took the form of a gala ceremony at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dubai, annually.
Launched in November 2017, the Avenues Children’s Garden took the form of an open-air terrace area of the mall that was completely renovated to accommodate a full-fledged garden facility showcasing over 20 varieties of exotic plants. Its objective was to educate children about the environment. Housed within the garden were 30 planter boxes containing soil and compost that was created by natural composting processes – from food waste collected at the mall itself. Prior to each visit, school children got to see educational videos about environmental issues, and afterwards, they could also take home a small pot plant to grow in their own time. Fifty schools had participated by the end of March 2017, and the entire campaign was successfully promoted through an integrated marketing plan within the mall and across all communication mediums, for maximum publicity.
Not only was Oman Avenues Mall selected for the Gold Award out of 16 competitors in the same category; it was also the only one to win an award for a mall within Oman, for the year.
The competition was open to shopping centre and mall owners, developers, management companies, architects and designers, and retailers, and the panel of veteran international judges appointed to adjudicate the Awards sought to recognise the Mena region’s most innovative retail establishments for their outstanding achievements in retail, marketing, retail store design, and development.
With the Gold Award, Oman Avenues Mall, along with other 2017 Gold Award recipients, now receive automatic entry into the prestigious 2018 ICSC VIVA Awards – the winners of which will be announced at the RECon 2018 convention in Las Vegas, in the US State of Nevada, next year. This international programme recognises and honours the retail real estate industry’s leading properties that are providing innovative solutions and creative responses to market trends.
Commenting on the award, Gogi George, Oman Avenues Mall and LuLu Group International general manager, Development & Leasing said, “We are thrilled to have received the gold award for the Best ‘Cause Related Marketing Campaign’ and we are very proud of what the Oman Avenues Mall team and all of our staff collectively achieved with the Avenues Children’s Garden. Fostering a culture of environmental awareness and sustainable gardening in the youth of Oman is a noble cause. I believe we achieved this at the Avenues Children’s Garden and; by providing them with the opportunity to plant and grow their own vegetables and herbs, I also believe we instilled in them a passion for nature that will remain with them when they grow up. Oman Avenues Mall is now looking forward to continuing to develop and host community engagement initiatives like this in the months to come.”
Looking ahead to the RECon 2018 convention in Las Vegas, George added, “As we head into the New Year, the platform is set for Oman Avenues Mall to compete with other top-class malls throughout the rest of the world at the RECon 2018 convention in Las Vegas – and we are confident that Oman Avenues Mall will make a significant impact.”