Scentre Group has invested more than $20 million in its new digital advertising screen network, Westfield SmartScreen Network, officially launched this week. The launch of the Westfield SmartScreen Network follows Scentre Group’s decision in late 2014 to take the advertising sales function of its floor-based portrait and landscape screens inhouse. It has been managed by Scentre Group’s sales division, BrandSpace, which also manages all other internal media platforms across the Westfield port
tfolio, most notably, the large format Digital Spectacular screens in major retail locations, since January.
Bill Burton, GM of Scentre Group Brandspace, told Inside Retail PREMIUM the digital network is a “critical digital pillar” in Scentre’s future and follows the rollout of other digital initiatives such as shopping centre wi-fi, which launched earlier this year in partnership with Optus in 21 shopping centres; wayfinding systems; and ticketless parking, available in selected malls, including at its latest redevelopment, Westfield Miranda, in Sydney’s south.
“The ambience in our shopping centres is mission critical, and it’s too important now to let a third party control this, we have to control this. This needs to be in our hands. We need to run it and we need to be responsible for it. It’s a critical way to engage our shoppers,” Burton said.
The Westfield SmartScreen Network is understood to be an investment of more than $20 million and is made up of 1200 interconnected digital screens in 37 Westfield shopping centres around Australia. Content from the screen is delivered through one database.
Static and video content can be displayed, with around six campaigns on each screen − four targeted advertisements and two Westfield advertisements.
Major brands including Optus, Disney, Foxtel, Samsung, Mazda, and Bonds, have joined as Westfield SmartScreen Network launch partners. The network includes facial recognition technology and has capabilities to implement QR codes, NFC chips, and beacons.
According to SMI reporting in March 2015, the BrandSpace team recorded 47 per cent year on year sales growth in 2014, and had a 29 per cent marketshare of all retail advertising spend in Australia, all before sales even begin on the Westfield Smart Screen Network.
“It’s a smarter way to communicate with Westfield shoppers. We’re inviting advertisers to rethink retail, to communicate with the massive Westfield retail audience all through a world leading, 21st century digital screen network, right at the point of purchase.”
This story first appeared in Inside Retail PREMIUM issue 2043. To subscribe, click here.
