Simon Property Group and Lamar Advertising Company Announce
National Alliance
Outdoor Advertising Integral Part of Simon's Media Strategy
INDIANAPOLIS and BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Simon
Brand Ventures (SBV), the business-to-consumer arm of Simon Property Group,
Inc., (NYSE:SPG) and Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR), the third largest
outdoor advertising company in the U.S., have announced an exclusive
partnership to develop, place and market free-standing, static outdoor
advertising units at Simon's vast portfolio of shopping centers across the
country.
This new venture will create another pillar in SBV's overarching media strategy
to position Simon as a cost-effective option for major brand marketers and
advertisers and a desirable alternative to traditional advertising.
The first step in the carefully orchestrated strategy was Simon's engagement of
Arbitron and Scarborough to embark on a series of new initiatives to showcase
the value of Simon Shopping Centers as a media platform. Last year, Arbitron
conducted a study on the efficacy of Simon Malls as an advertising medium and
issued Simon Malls Shopper Profile (http://www.simon.com/arbitron /), which
outlines the considerable reach and effectiveness of Simon's place-based media. More recently, Simon engaged Arbitron and Scarborough to develop reach and
frequency metrics for the shopping center industry. The goal is to enhance the
planning and buying of advertising in shopping centers through the creation of
mall-centric reach and frequency applications, offering planners and buyers the
ability to assess unique shopping center visits, the frequency of mall
exposures and to reach specific demographic audience segments.
Under this partnership, Simon and Lamar will seek to build a portfolio of
traditional static billboard and billboard type units, including the
development of new billboard structural concepts designed to enhance and
complement the shopping centers' current architecture and aesthetics. Using
Simon's vast national footprint of shopping center real estate, the partnership
will seek to place these units in high traffic, premium- advertising locations.
"Simon is by far the biggest and best in the shopping center industry, clearly
demonstrated in their size, reach and quality of their portfolio of shopping
centers," said Brent McCoy, executive vice president of business development
for Lamar. "Their unprecedented consumer base and premier market locations are
ideal places for marketers to advertise -- the sites in and around where
consumers are going to shop and spend. With 2.2 billion shopper visits a year
and the best real estate locations in the nation, we see enormous potential in
this venture and are pleased to be partnered with the best the industry has to
offer." "Lamar is clearly a dominant force and a major player in the outdoor industry,"
said Stewart Stockdale, chief marketing officer of Simon Property Group and
president of SBV. "The choice to partner with Lamar derives from the fact
that, not only are they the third largest outdoor advertising company in the
nation, but they are the only organization in the top three that is solely
focused on outdoor advertising. This partnership clearly demonstrates Simon's
desire to work with the best in the business to develop new and better focused
alternatives in advertising using shopping centers as place-based advertising
venues," he added.
About Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a real
estate investment trust engaged in the ownership, development and management of
retail real estate, primarily regional malls, Premium Outlet(R) centers and
community shopping centers. The Company's current total market capitalization
is approximately $37 billion. Through its subsidiary partnerships, it
currently owns or has an interest in 296 properties in the United States
containing an aggregate of 202 million square feet of gross leasable area in 40
states plus Puerto Rico. Simon also holds interests in 51 European shopping
centers in France, Italy, Poland and Portugal; 4 Premium Outlet(R) centers in
Japan; one Premium Outlet(R) center in Mexico; and one shopping center in
Canada. Additional Simon Property Group information is available at
http://www.simon.com/ .
About Simon Brand Ventures Simon Brand Ventures (SBV), Simon's business-to-consumer arm, has pioneered the
transformation of shopping malls into a medium where consumer brands can build
one-on-one relationships with shoppers who make approximately 2 billion visits
to Simon Malls each year. Simon's vast franchise of market- leading shopping
centers nationwide provides SBV the foundation to monetize the distribution
system through numerous consumer ventures. SBV has engaged in a number of
consumer business initiatives, including the Simon Giftcard(TM), launch of
Simon platform programs such as Simon Kidgits Club(TM), Simon Super Chefs
Live!(TM), Simon DTour Live(TM) and Simon Mall For You(TM), a national media
delivery channel including experiential marketing methods, and multiple
national and local marketing alliances with Coca-Cola, Visa U.S.A. and Cingular
Wireless, among others.
About Lamar Lamar currently operates 153 outdoor advertising companies in 43 states and is
the nation's leader in the highway logo sign business, with operations in 20 of
the 25 states that have privatized their logo programs as well as in the
province of Ontario, Canada. Logo signs are signs located near highway exits
that deliver brand name information on available gas, food, lodging and camping
services. Currently, Lamar operates more than 149,000 billboards and more than
97,500 logo sign displays across the country. In addition, Lamar has 63
transit advertising franchises that reach driving audiences in 14 states
through displays on bus shelters, benches and buses. DATASOURCE: Simon Property Group, Inc.
CONTACT: Sarah Heffernan of Fleishman-Hillard, +1-314-982-8680, ; or Billie Scott of Simon Property Group, +1-317-263-7148, Web site: http://www.simon.com/ http://www.simon.com/arbitron
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