The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, and just as it did in 1992, the distinctive retail shopping center is embracing innovation and setting new trends in the industry. Having always been the home to many firsts, including bringing couture, high-fashion, luxury and celebrity chefs to Las Vegas, The Forum Shops is now celebrating its milestone achievement with its fans and shoppers from across the globe via a unique campaign which takes advantage of the best of what social media has to offer today. This includes creating pioneering programs on Facebook, Rdio, Instagram and Pinterest.
With over 25 million visitors a year walking through The Forum Shops over 700,000 square feet of retail paradise (which features over 145 specialty stores and 15 restaurants), the Roman streetscapes of The Forum Shops have been the home to countless memories and incredible shopping extravaganzas. To truly commemorate and reach the millions of enthusiasts which span the world, The Forum Shops have moved beyond the traditional Facebook and Twitter campaigns and forged new ground with social media's fastest growing and most innovative companies. From utilizing the new Timeline format on Facebook to create a digital scavenger hunt and showcase historical pictures and fashion trends to creating 20 playlists on Rdio featuring the top 10 songs from each year to developing a board for each of its 20 years on Pinterest, The Forum Shops is engaging a worldwide audience like no other shopping center in the industry.
To learn more about the programs, please find below a short question/answer session with Maureen Crampton, marketing director for The Forum Shops at Caesars:
1. How do you think having all of these new social assets is helping the Forum Shops to celebrate their 20thAnniversary?
Having a number of social media platforms gives users a historical view in the rich history of one of the most iconic retail shopping centers in the world. Unlike most shopping destinations, we have a worldwide audience so this really was the best way to reach out to everyone in real time without having to rely on other content providers to share our news and history.
2. Using Rdio is an interesting concept – how did you select the playlists? Why did you choose to use Rdio over other services?
We compiled a list of the top 10 songs for each year in which The Forum Shops has been open. Using the Billboard charts we were able to create 20 playlists on Rdio. We decided to go with Rdio because it is free and user friendly; it does not require a Facebook or Twitter account to use. This way our fans on our other social media platforms, or just Rdio users who don't have Facebook or Twitter, do not have to worry about being unable to enjoy our playlists. We thought this was a really fun way of looking back at the last 20 years. Everyone associates music with special moments and periods in time – when people listen to our playlists, we hope they remember not only their time with us, but other special memories in their lives.
3. Pinterest is a hot commodity right now – how are you using it to showcase the history of the Forum Shops?
Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media platforms on the web and we wanted to take advantage of the interest and excitement surrounding the service. We have created a board for each year in which The Forum Shops has been open, as well as eight additional boards filled with pins from other users, articles, videos and more. We have pictures ranging from the opening of The Forum Shops in 1992 to special events that have taken place over the years, as well as fashion trends from years past. We are really excited about the launch of this program – we see it has having great value beyond just our anniversary celebration.
4. What is the digital scavenger hunt? How does it work? What are the prizes?
The digital scavenger hunt is based around the Facebook Timeline. We will ask our fans questions via an installed application specifically for this contest and they will have to search The Forum Shops Facebook page to find the answers. The user will then input their answers and submit them for review. Each winner will receive a $100 gift card. There are 20 gift cards valued at $100 each. This is a great way to really engage our fans and followers and entice them with a great reward. We hope that everyone who enters has a fun time exploring – we believe this is a much more interesting way to do a giveaway than to just fill out a form and hope you get picked.
5. How were you able to use the new Facebook Timeline to create a better historical perspective of the 20 year history of the Forum Shops?
Facebook's Timeline came at the perfect moment. We were looking into other social media platforms but the Timeline is so user friendly and presents a cleaner and user-friendly approach. For us, it presented a great archival way of displaying the events and images of the past, as well as to showcase our major milestones along the way.
6. Has The Forum Shops been an early embracer of social technology and offerings? What else have you done recently?
The Forum Shops is most definitely an early embracer of social media. The main assets, Facebook and Twitter, were launched in 2009 before social media for businesses really took off. Since its creation, there have been many different contests and programs for our fans to enjoy. In 2011 we added our Pinterest and Instagram accounts. We also created a Vimeo and YouTube account to house our videos.
THE FORUM SHOPS VIDEO REEL
As part of the anniversary, many of The Forum Shops retail tenants (some dating back to the opening) took part in a special video to share some of their personal memories and stories, this included: Donny Borsack/first family of retail in Las Vegas; Tom Kaplan/wolfgang Puck-spago; Haresch Melwani/original Versace/jeans Couture; Larry Close/the Palm and more. In addition, Caesars Palace Regional President Gary Selesner spoke about how important the partnership with The Forum Shops is in making Caesars Palace the worldwide destination that it is. The video can be found at: http://www.vimeo.com/40136145
ABOUT THE FORUM SHOPS AT CAESARS
The Forum Shops at Caesars opened 283,000 square feet in May 1992 to immediate success. An August 1997 expansion to 500,000 square feet continued the momentum. The third phase of The Forum Shops' growth was a three-level expansion extending from the existing retail, dining and entertainment icon to the famed Las Vegas Strip adding 175,000 square feet, with completion October 2004. A grand pedestrian plaza entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard further validates The Forum Shops as one of the finest luxury shopping streets in the world. The Forum Shops is recognized for its unique combination of top retail, dining, entertainment, excellent location and exciting ambiance featuring 160 specialty shops and restaurants.
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