“As a leader in the industry, providing integrated mall media, shopper marketing, activation and digital solutions in South Africa, we needed to re-evaluate and enhance our offering to stay relevant in this ever-changing industry to meet the needs of the shopper. This rebrand is part of our coming of age and is pivotal to our growth and expansion,” states Molefi Moloantoa, CEO of Primedia Unlimited Malls.
Operating since 1996, a primary drive of its evolution was moving away from being an offering-focussed business to a solution-based business.
“Our experience and success of mastering shopper engagement and meeting the expectations of property owners was achieved through providing offerings that connect brands to shoppers, maximising the ability to integrate and foster relationships with shoppers, while maximising non-GLA opportunities.
“As a shopper-centric business, we needed to understand the shopper better in order to engage in a different, non-direct way. This is why we have invested in data and research to understand this market and how we can effectively communicate with it.”
Digitising the business and the environment was critical for the growth of PUM and was one of its biggest challenges. PUM needed to ensure innovation and enhancement in its space and environment.
“In order to keep ahead of the market and industry, our new branding has created a consistent and recognisable brand, without losing the prominence of our individual centres of excellence, led by experts. We have transformed our business to include product managers. This new structure will focus on ensuring we provide bespoke and creative solutions for clients, where we have seen a very strong uptake from brands, and mall owners on providing solutions rather than services.
PUM’s new brand promise of creating smarter malls repositions and reinforces the company’s offering to provide innovative solutions and integrated services to those seeking advertising platforms applicable to media, activations, shopper marketing and digital areas of the retail landscape.
“Above all, this re-brand is a behaviour change - in the way we speak, engage, deliver and are perceived. Smart is our core promise and philosophy that will be evident in all our offerings and services.
Additionally, declining consumer confidence and fluctuating low economic growth have proven to be challenging for the retail industry; the timely rebrand highlights the consistent growth of the company and the maturation of the business, as it adapts to the changing environment, optimising client experiences.
“Initially, rebranding the business had to be accepted and achieved internally, before we made it public. We needed our staff to be engaged internally and externally. We had to create meaning beyond our individual roles, building connectivity, comradery, a sense of belonging and purpose within our 160 employees.
“Knowing that change always begins from the inside out, one of the initiatives that was catalyst in achieving change, was utilising our own people, capabilities and capacities in the form of an internal staff manifesto video, which was conceptualised, created and executed by our staff.”
The video features all staff members, from all regions, who came together to make this visual illustration of their common purpose and what they represent, further entrenching how their individual roles play a part in the bigger picture of the business.
“This rebrand has been one of the most transformational undertakings and journeys we have been on. The next step for PUM is to align with property owners in the creation of a common vision for their business and malls so that together we can deliver the smart malls that the shopper wants. Without this common vision amongst key stakeholders, this rebrand would be nothing but a marketing exercise,” concludes Molefi.
