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MAXIs honor industry talent in Atlanta

A gospel choir welcomed attendees to the 29th MAXI Awards, held Sept. 17 at Atlanta’s Rialto Center for the Performing Arts.

"MAXI Chairwoman Barbara J. Ivankovich, SCMD, praised this year’s entries.

"Marketing veteran Paul Kastner, SCMD, vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, finally took home a MAXI.

ATLANTA — Imagine working in an industry for two decades, eventually becoming a teacher, a spokesman and a role model, watching those you’ve mentored win your business’ highest honor — and never winning it yourself.

Daytime drama diva Susan Lucci knew that feeling well: National television annually documented her regular nomination for, and loss of, a Daytime Emmy. And so did Jones Lang LaSalle’s Paul Kastner in a 25-year-long search for a MAXI, the shopping center marketing and management business’ equivalent of an Emmy.

Last year, Lucci won her Emmy. And in September at ICSC’s Fall Management & Marketing Conference here, Paul Kastner got his MAXI.

“This is the 29th MAXI awards, and I’ve been around for most of them. And I, too, have been waiting for Paul Kastner to win,” ICSC President John Riordan said at the MAXI ceremony, held Sept. 17 at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts.

The next morning, former ICSC-TV anchorman Kastner was still beaming. “I’m celebrating 25 years in the industry this year. I’ve been a MAXI Merit winner a number of times, and people who’ve worked for me have won. But I’d never won an individual MAXI before,” he said.

Kastner, an SCMD who is a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, was honored in the Public Relations category for “The Turn of a Century — A Carousel.” Because of construction delays, none of the retail or food court tenants were open by the grand opening of New York City’s Grand Central Terminal (SCT, Dec. 1998). To combat potentially negative press, Kastner and his team arranged the sponsorship of an exhibit created by The School of Visual Arts, resulting in massive positive publicity instead. It is for this effort that he received the MAXI this year.

The wait for his award was worth it, he said.

“It was everything I had hoped for, a validation of my 25 years in the industry. I’ve also judged MAXI many times, so it’s even more exciting,” he said.

Kastner’s award was not the only highlight of the two-hour ceremony, which began as attendees entered the theater to the sounds of a gospel choir. Many in the audience were deeply touched by “Aimee’s Prom,” Kravco Co.’s Bangor (Maine) Mall’s Community Service promotion in which a young woman with Down’s Syndrome won a contest that allowed her to select a prize: She chose to stage a prom at the mall for herself and her classmates, planning the event and managing the budget with the help of mall staff.

Other MAXI-winning programs that were mentioned repeatedly throughout the three-day conference also were won by Kravco: its portfoliowide installation of heart defibrillators and oxygen, honored in both the Community Service and Public Relations categories; and “Peace Talks. Violence Walks,” in which Kravco malls provided a forum for teen-agers to discuss youth violence. (SCT, September)

“The quality of entries was terrific this year, particularly the community activities. It’s not just doing bazaars: It’s getting Colin Powell to visit a center [Greensboro, N.C.’s Four Seasons Town Centre, for the MAXI-winning mentoring program “Mall of Promise”], or doing an ‘Aimee’s Prom’. People don’t realize how much centers do for their communities,” said MAXI Chairwoman Barbara J. Ivankovich, SCMD, vice president of corporate marketing for CBL & Associates Properties, Chattanooga, Tenn.

In all, 23 MAXIs and 56 MAXI Merits were awarded in a ceremony dominated by management companies and privately held developers. The show’s goal, Ivankovich said, was to emphasize creativity, in line with the conference’s theme of “Innovation.”

“We wanted to do something educational, and we also tried to capture the entertainment factor. We wanted the show to be of MAXI-winning quality itself,” she said.

In a major departure from previous years, this year’s show featured a master of ceremonies, comedian Tim Wilkins, who kept the program moving briskly but with a major dose of industry humor, some with a local touch.

“We have a mall here, Phipps Plaza, that’s so upscale there’s a cover charge,” Wilkins quipped.

In another shift from last year’s formal sit-down dinner, most attendees paraded three blocks away to a buffet and dance at the Tabernacle theater, with many staying well past midnight

“Most of the people who worked on the planning committee wanted a place to have fun and be able to congratulate the winners,” explained Rudolph E. Milian, SCMD/SCSM, ICSC senior staff vice president.

More than 400 entries were evaluated in June by a panel of 33 industry marketing and management professionals. Entries are judged on marketing objectives and strategy; creativity; implementation; cost effectiveness; and results and impact. Dee Page, vice president of administration, corporate marketing and public relations for King of Prussia, Pa.-based Kravco Co., will chair next year’s MAXI ceremony, which will be held on Oct. 26, 2001, in Orlando, at the conclusion of the Fall Management & Marketing Conference.

A list of MAXI winners follows on page 20. For complete descriptions of all MAXI and MAXI Merit-winning entries, visit www.icsc.org or check out the special MAXI section in next month’s SCT.

29th annual MAXI Award winners …