Washington Park Mall Case Study

A CAMPAIGN THAT GOT EVERYBODY DOING WHAT WE WANTED THEM TO DO.

Lying a short 30 miles north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bartlesville was just close enough to the bigger city to justify not having its own shopping mall. So, muttering and griping under their breath, residents would make the half hour (sometimes full hour or more, if you were going to a mall on the south side of the city) drive and obediently do their shopping.

So, you can imagine that, after years of chafing over this inconvenience, the development of the 90-store Washington Park Mall by Sears subsidiary, Homart Development, was greeted by a huge buzz. A buzz that grew exponentially as the opening date approached, fueled of course by our multimedia teaser campaign that perfectly tapped into the community mindset.

In fact, that mindset became the conceptual hook behind the campaign— “Everybody’s Watching, Everybody’s Talking, Everybody’s Walking, Everybody’s Shopping Washington Park Mall.”  The last three phrases together became the tagline and chorus for the original music package of three unique jingles, one jazz, one reggae and one rock, that became the cornerstone of the radio campaign for years The invitation for the grand opening VIP breakfast, mailed to 342 select community movers and shakers, included a real phone they were encouraged to plug in and use to RSVP— 338 did, a whopping 99%  return rate.

Not surprisingly, the invitation won a Clio, and the original music package that had the entire community singing, took a Bronze Andy, just behind national giants, Coke and Budweiser. Oh, and thanks to the radio, print outdoor and PR campaign, the grand opening weekend saw 90,000 people come to the new mall from the surrounding area, 2.5 times the town of Bartlesville’s population!