Editor’s Letter

With the world enthralled by the battle for the White House and the possible ramifications of its imminent outcome, one can find countless examples of strategic planning at its best—and worst. Both the Kerry gang and the Bush clan are pulling all the stops to capture voters’ attention, grab headline news and plant the seeds that will hopefully produce healthy returns at the polls. Shopping centre managers and marketers are not in a dissimilar situation. They too must devise stratagems to influence consumer opinion so that their properties can increase footfall and profits. For our cover story, we called on consultants and shopping centre professionals to offer their views on effective strategic planning and research. Sifting through it all, it became evident that there was enough material there to write about for months to come. But first things first. Our cover story will get you thinking about how you approach these tasks and whether or not you have the right focus, one that will justify the necessary outlay of monetary and staff resources.
We will then tackle specific aspects of strategic marketing planning and research in future editions (the December issue, for example, will include a sub-feature on budgeting).
Also in this edition, the Purple Apple Task Force gives you all the necessary tools to complete and enter a competitive award submission. You’ll also get PR tips from our guest columnist,  Bryony Parkin of FPDSavills, while Nigel Wilson of Comgenic offers his view on the future of technology in retail. Of course, that’s in addition to plenty of marketing ideas from shopping centres in the UK, North America and Australia.
December being the month of holidays, we thought the next edition would be most appropriate to celebrate the achievements of shopping centre marketers who received some of the ICSC’s highest honours: the global MAXI awards and the Maple Leaf awards in Canada.
 

Myriam Beaugé

Editor in Chief