A NORTH East shopping centre has scooped a top industry award.
intu Metrocentre, Gateshead, took on competition from shopping centres across the UK to win the Strategic Marketing Campaign category at the British Council of Shopping Centres Purple Apple Marketing awards – thanks to two mini members of the team.
The centre made national headlines last year when it announced plans to recruit youngsters tasked with ensuring intu Metrocentre continued to be a child-friendly place to visit and promoting its Kids’ Club events and activities.
And Head of Fun, nine-year-old Mac Toal and his seven-year-old deputy Myah Rose Wilson, lost no time in road testing children’s toys, events and activities at the centre, boosting its Kids’ Club membership and raising its profile regionally and nationally.
Although their year-long term of office has now ended, the pair were so successful that the initiative is now running for a second year, with nine-year-old Esther Bennett and Logan Jackson Luke, six, recently appointed as the new Head and Deputy Head.
The intu Metrocentre marketing team collected the award in front of more than 500 professionals from across the retail property marketing industry at the annual event, which recognises effective marketing within the UK shopping centre sector.
In presenting the award, judges described the Head of Fun initiative as, “a simple concept that clearly generated lots of impact at intu Metrocentre – it was well executed and successful in engaging with the target audience.”
And intu Metrocentre marketing manager, Helen Atkinson, said: “The reason it’s been so successful is because it put children in the driving seat and harnessed their opinions and views to improve our engagement with our younger visitors.
“During their year with us, Mac and Myah became part of the team and their enthusiasm and energy in their roles was infectious.
“Now, their successors, Esther and Logan, are carrying on where they left off and reinforcing intu Metrocentre’s reputation as a truly family-friendly place to visit.”