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SIMON TO SELL OUTSIDE BILLBOARDS

BY SASCHA BRODSKY

Starting this summer Simon Property Group will sell ad space on outdoor billboards at its malls. “With 2.2 billion shopper visits at our malls there is huge potential for advertisers who want the best exposure for their products,” Stewart A. Stockdale, Simon’s chief marketing officer, told SCT.

The Simon Brand Ventures division, in a joint venture with Baton Rouge, La.-based outdoor ad company Lamar Advertising, says it will build a portfolio of billboards that complement the aesthetics of its malls. For example, some will be brick, and others will be made of stucco. The program will also introduce new billboard structural concepts. “Everything we do in advertising has to enhance the shopping experience,” Stockdale said. The ad rates, he says, will be “very competitive.”

The initiative is the latest step in Simon’s strategy to beef up advertising in its properties. Simon and several other large REITs have hired research firms to develop ways to measure ad reach and frequency for the shopping center industry.

Stockdale says he anticipates that standard metrics for measuring the “reach” and “frequency” of mall ads will be established by midyear. Once that is accomplished, mall ads can be sold more easily by comparing their impact to that of TV, newspaper and other ads.

It’s a great way to squeeze the most profits possible out of a mall, says Judi A. Lapin, president of Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Lapin Consulting Group. “It provides yet another tool for Simon to offer sponsors and advertisers those much-sought-after eyeballs,” Lapin said. “A positive side benefit is the ability to control both the content and aesthetics of billboards within close proximity to their malls.”

Simon owns 296 properties in the U.S. Lamar Advertising operates about 149,000 billboards and some 97,500 logo signs nationwide.