Deck the Walls, and Floors, and Elevators

The holiday season is known for an increase in consumer purchases, making up between 20 and 40 percent of retailers’ annual sales. So it’s no surprise one of the largest cellular providers wanted to advertise during the holiday shopping season. And when better to kick off the campaign but on Black Friday, in 24 malls across the country.

The holiday season is known for an increase in consumer purchases, making up between 20 and 40 percent of retailers’ annual sales. So it’s no surprise one of the largest cellular providers wanted to advertise during the holiday shopping season. And when better to kick off the campaign but on Black Friday, in 24 malls across the country.

T-Mobile approached Britten Studios (www.brittenstudios.com) through long-standing contacts at retail developer Simon Property Group, while ad agency OOH Pitch designed hundreds of pieces of separate creative. The companies worked together for three months, from initial conference call to final execution, but all the graphics were printed, shipped, and installed in 10 days.

The campaign included floor and wall graphics, banners, elevator wraps, food court and charging station tables, a fabric media screen, and, recently introduced, Britten’s Infinity Standee, a borderless framed system with double-sided fabric prints.

“Found at every property in the Simon portfolio, there are slight variations in the structure of the interior and exterior models, but each one is essentially a floor-mounted, vertical display with fabric,” says Jeffrey Smith, managing director of retail media at Britten Studios and a leader for the T-Mobile project. “Simon was interested in moving away from the rigid substrates used previously for their standees as they were very expensive to flat ship, and also because of the beautiful presentation that only fabric printing can offer.”

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Britten also created the internal frame media screen, which comes in three standard configurations and was designed specifically for Simon’s soft seating lounges that encompassed charging towers for cell phones and other electronic devices.

Multiple types of media were used for this massive campaign such as 13-ounce satin vinyl for the ceiling banners, Busmark for the charging towers and bulkheads, and more. And almost every printer Britten owns was used, including various HP Scitex XL Jet models, an HP Scitex FB7600 flatbed, and two new 12-inch, D-Gen Teleios GT Grande direct-to-fabric printers.

The ceiling banners throughout the malls are known as SkyBanners and come in several uniform sizes that are now standard in the retail industry, says Smith: “Britten helped establish that standard, which now includes 14 x 8-foot banners, most commonly found at two-story enclosed malls; the slightly smaller 9 x 5-foot banner, commonly found at single-story enclosed malls; and the 14 x 16-foot double SkyBanner commonly found in center courts or paired with the atrium wraps commonly seen in escalator courts.” he says. They were hung in heavily-trafficked areas using Britten’s patented ceiling hoist system, the BannerDrop.

Britten produced everything in-house at their production facilities in Traverse City, Michigan, and then shipped the media directly to each mall. “We have regional operations managers based in strategic markets from coast to coast and a crew of veteran installers who are deployed as necessary,” Smith says.

Because malls open much earlier on Black Friday, Britten’s team had to work quickly overnight for all installation, but that’s something they’re accustomed to. “Our retail installers most typically are not permitted to begin working until the mall has closed, so this often means installing in the dark or late into the night,” says Smith. “Our installers can drive a lift through a mall like a race car driver through an obstacle course.”

Check out other great P-O-P projects from our April/May issue:

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