Community Engagement

How to stay ahead of the ‘evolving Shopping Centre’ game with Shopping Centre activations

The bar has been raised, and the standard Shopping Centre has flourished into a destination for activations. Here at ENGAGE we are ahead of the game, and know how to design and produce a successful Shopping Centre activation in order to achieve community engagement, and keep that newly formed spark of the Shopping Centre alive and current.

Shopping Centre’s have come a long way from just retail stores and stale food courts serving fast food. Centre’s have been revolutionised, now creating memorable and enjoyable experiences for their shoppers. From cinemas to alfresco dining; they have developed into a social playground where kids activities and romantic dinner dates can all happen at the one place. It’s a place where there is always something “on” and always something happening that bring in consumers and keep the retailers happy.

Toowoomba’s, Grand Central Shopping Centre (GC) has been hatching from their cocoon with a $500 million-dollar redevelopment. To celebrate the completion of a new phase for the Grand Central Shopping Centre redevelopment, ENGAGE and Alive Events Agency designed and produced a series of Shopping Centre activations throughout the centre to pollinate the centres new attractions and create a hive, buzzing with excitement.

How to stay ahead of the ‘evolving Shopping Centre’ game with Shopping Centre activations, ENGAGE

Toowoomba’s, Grand Central Shopping Centre (GC) has been hatching from their cocoon with a $500 million-dollar redevelopment.

From a moonlight cinema, interactive customised games to an edgy digital fashion parade, we activated various locations of the Shopping Centre, creating unexpected experiences to engage and excite an array of shoppers.

One of the locations ENGAGE transformed was the recently renovated fashion destination, the ‘Galleria’. We highlighted this space and sparked interest and visitation to the Centre by transforming the space into an inspiring art museum. We gave the local community an opportunity to be inspired and educated. We created a community engagement event that enhanced the spirit of the local community and their celebration of the iconic Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers Festival. We sprung into Spring and produced three oversize flower installations to hang in the void of the ‘Galleria’. Referred to as the ‘hanging gardens’, the void consisted of an extraordinary flower installation that resembled a different Orchid native to the Toowoomba region.

How to stay ahead of the ‘evolving Shopping Centre’ game with Shopping Centre activations, ENGAGE

One of the locations ENGAGE transformed was the recently renovated fashion destination, the ‘Galleria’.

The grand flower installations were handcrafted from the talented paper engineer Benja Harney from Paperform. 250 kilograms of delicately cut paper was crafted into monstrous masterpieces that resembled Anemone, Allium and The Black Orchid of Queensland which brought life to the Shopping Centre, sparking interest from the community and even the local media!

As an experiential agency, we created more than just an incredible visual piece, we created an experiential activation that wowed shoppers as they passed through each magnificent floral installation with informative stories popping out from the balustrade or from the food court tables as shoppers dined. The Shopping Centre activation took shoppers on an unexpected and inspiring journey where they learned about these unique Orchids and the story of Allan Cummings, the botanist who discovered the Flora of the local Darling Downs region.

How to stay ahead of the ‘evolving Shopping Centre’ game with Shopping Centre activations, ENGAGE

250 kilograms of delicately cut paper was crafted into monstrous masterpieces.

Another of the latest attractions since the redevelopment is the new outdoor café and dining precinct, “Central Square”. Central Square will become a thriving community space where shoppers can dine by the running creek bed and absorb the serenity of the shady trees. Food courts with cold sterile lighting are a thing of the past! We wanted to enhance Toowoomba’s’ sense of community and belonging by hosting a stylised moonlight cinema complete with modest yet personalised ‘Grand Central’ burnt orange deck chairs.

This activation developed into a community engagement event. The moonlight cinema enticed shoppers to venture out to discover the new precinct and enjoy the social community hub. The activation was charming, warm and welcoming. It was GC’s way of thanking the shoppers for their patients during the redevelopment. We ensured this Shopping Centre activation was genuine and reflected GC’s core values.

How to stay ahead of the ‘evolving Shopping Centre’ game with Shopping Centre activations, ENGAGE

An interactive digital fashion parade, showcasing the new retailers of GC.

To complete the Shopping Centre activation, we brought the digital age to Toowoomba in the form of an interactive digital fashion parade, showcasing the new retailers of GC. In a futuristic and edgy style, shoppers could walk through and experience the fashion runway for themselves by walking side-by-side with life-size digital catwalk models. It was a great opportunity to involve the new retailers of the centre, and showcase GC as a fashion destination.

Throughout the various activations, ENGAGE and Alive Events Agency helped relaunch Grand Central Shopping Centre as a thriving social hotspot and a community destination in Toowoomba. Shopping Centres need to stay innovative and ahead of the times to keep up with the evolving shopper and their need for engaging experiences and social interaction. To achieve this, we ensured this Shopping Centre activation brought something different to each space, giving shoppers a diverse shopping experience. We brought education and creativity to the ‘Galleria’ and entertainment and community engagement to the ‘Central Square’ precinct. Overall, it’s an exciting and changing time for Shopping Centres, and the possibilities for revolutionising the shopping experience through Shopping Centre activations are endless!

Event Produced by Alive Engage in association with Alive Events Agency.