The launch of Westfield Mall of Scandinavia, with acclaimed artist Rita Ora, marked the close of a series of music events to launch the Westfield brand at ten Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) flagship centres across Europe.
The performances featured A-list talent including John Legend, Rita Ora, Clean Bandit, Aya Nakamura, Hyphen Hyphen and Kendji Girac who performed at events in France, Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden throughout September to celebrate the rollout of the only global shopping destination brand, Westfield. Over 20,000 people attended, with events reaching full capacity within hours of tickets being released.
The Westfield brand, present in the UK and the US, was introduced across seven centres in France: Westfield Les 4 Temps, Westfield Forum des Halles, Westfield Vélizy 2, Westfield Parly 2, Westfield Carré Sénart and Westfield Rosny 2 in the Paris region and Westfield Euralille in Lille. The rebranding also took place in Sweden’s Westfield Mall of Scandinavia near Stockholm, Poland’s Westfield Arkadia in Warsaw and the Czech Republic’s Westfield Chodov in Prague, with other URW destinations set to follow in 2020.
These centres are the leading URW assets in each market. As new Westfield destinations, they will retain their strong heritage, local identity and community links whilst benefitting from Westfield’s enhanced events, experiences, services, retailers and brand partnerships. The recent music performances are an example of the ambitious new events programme synonymous with the Westfield brand.
Christophe Cuvillier, Group CEO of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said: “The launch of the world-famous Westfield brand in Continental Europe comes at a time when consumers are expecting more from their shopping trip. Following the acquisition of Westfield in 2018, this is a major milestone as we deliver on our global strategy and the first time a rebranding exercise of such a wide scale has been undertaken in the industry.
“Westfield represents the gold standard of destinations globally with a combination of first class retail, dining and leisure with exceptional events and services. Creating unique experiences provides a greater reason for customers to visit and is the future of retail.”
Myf Ryan, CMO Europe and Group Director of Brand and Strategic Marketing for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield commented: “The Westfield brand will bring together the best of local and international. We will keep the centres’ local identity and relevance whilst building on the success of other global Westfield shopping destinations such as Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City to take experience to a new level. The performances from international music stars are the first of many events which bring communities together.”
New services, designed to offer convenience for customers, have been introduced across all centres featuring kiddy cars, tax-refund kiosks, lockers and cloakrooms, click & collect and the new Westfield gift card which can be used in all Westfield centres in the same country. The loyalty programme which provides offers, services and events is now Westfield Club and will roll out with new innovations over 2019 and 2020.
The launch music performances were supported by a wider marketing initiative with URW’s first Pan-European advertising campaign running during September in all new Westfield countries, along with the UK. The new campaign, Come Together, featuring the song from The Beatles, supports Westfield’s promise of creating places that are designed to come alive.
