SITUATION

Canal Place is an established, luxury shopping center located adjacent to the French Quarter in New Orleans. The retail space sits along Canal Street, which is part of New Orleans’ historic shopping district. With 32 tenants including national names such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., Anthropologie and Lululemon and local, luxury brands such as Mignon Faget, Canal Place’s target audience spans the upscale market of both locals and tourists, baby-boomers and millennials. 

CAMPAIGN

Canal Place hired Gambel Communications to work  hand-in-hand with its management team to position the center as a fun and unique spot for a complete high-end retail experience and to solidify Canal Place’s reputation as a premier shopping destination in New Orleans. 

As part of its ongoing strategy, Gambel Communications concepted, planned and executed an inaugural Style Brunch. Gambel Communications brought in two of the area’s most influential fashion bloggers, Haute Off the Rack and A Pinch of Lovely, to co-host as an influencer networking event with Canal Place. By leveraging their relationships with local bloggers and their combined following of 415K.  

 As part of the campaign, Canal Place sponsored three distinct giveaways in collaboration with A Pinch of Lovely and Haute Off the Rack. One giveaway targeted bloggers’ followers prior to the event and encouraged engagement with Canal Place’s social media by offering the chance for a follower and a friend to attend the fashion influencer brunch. Haute Off the Rack and Pinch of Lovely each posted three Instagram stories from Canal Place as well as one dedicated Instagram post describing the giveaway and how to enter. They tracked and monitored entries and chose one winner. Two other giveaways boosted excitement and engagement with the influencers attending the event and encouraged ongoing participation with Canal Place’s social media channels following the event. Opportunities to enter extended two weeks after the event and included a recap blog post, “unboxing” of the Canal Place swag bag, a post with the influencer from the brunch or a post wearing an outfit bought from Canal Place.  

The Style Brunch launched a preview of Canal Place’s new branding and social handle #CanalPlaceStyle and created a shareable experience to position Canal Place as the premier shopping destination in New Orleans. It featured partnerships with local New Orleans brands including a cold brew coffee bar by French Market Coffee, catering by Meribo, floral décor by Kim Starr Wise, decorations by Fox Fête, a mimosa bar, and swag provided by Canal Place retailers.  

After the brunch, bloggers were encouraged to shop at participating stores such as Mignon Faget, Saks Fifth Avenue and Tiffany & Co. with their newly branded Canal Place shopping totes, snap photos and share their experience on social media. 

RESULT

The event generated more than 200 tagged posts and shares on social media networks from a group of 20 influencers on the day of the event as well as featured blogs on A Pinch of Lovely and Haute Off the Rack. In the two weeks following, more than 20 posts using the event’s hashtag were posted from bloggers with a combined audience reach of more than 800,000. Results yielded a positive engagement with an exclusive but influential group of local fashion bloggers who continue to work with and shop at Canal Place.  Following the Style Brunch, Canal Place has been positioned to host myriad other events in partnership with local luxury brands and has maintained its earned reputation as a luxury marketplace.