Simon Taps Influencers To Draw Gen Z to the Mall

Simon Property Group on Monday launched “Meet Me @themall,” a new advertising campaign targeted at younger customers, specifically members of Gen Z, the company said in a press release. Simon said its campaign leverages Gen Z’s ’80s and ’90s nostalgia, including by reworking the hook of Simple Minds’ ’80s pop music hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” to “Won’t You (Meet Me at the Mall)” to cast malls as fun places to shop, eat and hang, the company said.

The real estate investment trust, which owns nearly 200 U.S. malls, said it’s partnering with over 250 mall-loving influencers and creators to drive awareness and engagement. The campaign is on Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services, along with Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and on Simon’s social channels.

Although some retailers are choosing to move outside of the mall’s walls, 97% of Gen Z consumers shop in physical stores, Simon said, citing a report by ICSC. 

The ad campaign “is really a comprehensive strategy to celebrate mall culture, strengthen connections with our consumers, and invite people to be part of the experience. Influencers and creators have a role in that,” Lee Sterling, Simon’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview with Retail Dive. “That’s who people are connecting with, especially Gen Z.”

Sterling said the influencers chosen feature a mix of demographics and interests. “So whether it’s people who really love fashion, which we see with Gym Tan and her daughter or people that really love beauty, which we see with the Pitman Sisters or someone that really likes food like Dan Pelosi who is a foodie influencer, we intentionally picked them to support our various categories within the mall.”

Indianapolis-based Simon is a major player in retail real estate. Simon has 196 U.S. properties comprising 172 million square feet. Leasing volumes, shopper traffic, occupancy and retail sales all rose in the second quarter. Net operating income at Simon’s North American properties also rose 5.2% from a year ago to $1.3 billion.

Simon is smart to invest in customer relationship management with Gen Z, Shawn Grain Carter, a retail industry consultant and professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University of New York, told Retail Dive in emailed comments. The reason, Carter explained, is the move can create early consumer loyalty and simultaneously offer an omnichannel retail experience that can drive opportunities to gain wallet share and enhance fashion-focused brands.

“They also can cultivate retail loyalty and brand loyalty as Gen Z matures and gains consumer purchasing power over the next decade,” Carter said. “Gen Z wants more in-person experiences to connect with their peers. Simon Properties is banking on the shift in lifestyle that offers more meetups offline and malls are a major attraction if they’re upgraded and technologically advanced to make shopping fun again for Gen Z.”

Members of Gen Z are generally between ages 12 and 27. In contrast with the preceding generation of millennials, Carter said most members of Gen Z didn’t necessarily grow up with malls as a centerpiece of their youthful shopping, dining and social experiences.

As a result, for members of Gen Z, “mall socializing and shopping is a new cultural phenomenon and this demographic loves ‘experiences’ beyond the metaverse and digital shopping platforms,” Carter said.