This is how the genuine and human appearance of the Ratina shopping centre was created
The real feeling was searched for in the advertising photos of the Ratina shopping centre in Tampere, so the models were Tampere-based as well The visual expression reflects strongly the Ratina shopping centre’s values – humane, genuine and communal.
“Where is the hairdresser? Should I have more lipstick?” asks 4-year-old Lyydia Lahtienergetically.
The adults around her are smiling, and the stylist Kelly Kurtén lifts the determined girl to a chair and adds some reddish lip-gloss. The youngest of the Ratina shopping centre’s advertising faces is ready for the shoot.
When the Ratina shopping centre opens in Tampere city centre in April 2018, it will be the biggest shopping centre in the Tampere area with its approximately 140 shops and 53,000 square metres. The core value has been, since the beginning, communality. The residents of the area have participated in the construction project right from the beginning by planning the shopping centre’s spaces and services. Now the communality and other core values are brought forth also in the Ratina shopping centre’s visual expression.
Ratina shopping centre wants to be close to people
This means, in practice, that the chosen advertising faces were ordinary, genuine, Tampere residents. The advertising shoot was also a communal and memorable event.
“The Ratina shopping centre wants to be close to people. That is why we wanted real and genuine people for these photos. The main aspect in the photos is the feeling”, explains Sponda’s Marketing Manager Heidi Pitkämäki who is responsible for the Ratina shopping centre.
Models with different looks, ages and sizes were searched for with, for example, an ad in a paper. A total of 416 applications were received and ten applicants were invited to the first shoots. Today in February, in a shoot in the middle of the shopping centre construction site, a family on a shopping trip and a group of young adults are basking around. There will be another shoot in the summer and the models will be chosen from the previous applicants.
New clothing shops attract
Mikael Ermala, who plays the role of little Lyydia’s father in the photo shoot, had his hair done and is filling the agreement papers by the table. He is prepared for the fact that his face may appear wherever after this, varying from the side of a bus to social media.
“This brings nice variety to everyday life”, tells Ermala, who works as a project manager in the security sector.
After the Ratina shopping centre opening, Ermala will visit at least the Gant and Zara shops, since they are newcomers in the Tampere area. When Kurtén has finished ironing Ermala’s plaid dress shirt, he buttons it on. It is time to head to the spiral staircase in the middle of the shopping centre where the shoot takes place.
There are loud banging, drilling and beeping noises to be heard inside the shopping centre when the models arrive at the scene. The grand opening is in two months, meaning that the insides are not yet finalised. The advertising photos must, however, be taken well before the opening.
Mothers favour easy shopping centres
“The Ratina shopping centre is a meeting place for the Tampere residents and the inhabitants of nearby areas and everyone is welcome here as they are. Families are the shopping centre’s core target group”, tells the designer of the Ratina appearance Pauliina Vesterinen just before the family shoot starts.
The first one to sit in front of the spiral staircase is Anna Mäkinen, a mother of a 3-year-old girl and a two-week-old baby. She applied for the Ratina shopping centre advertising face shoot with a photo from her late pregnancy. A separate application was made for her daughter.
“I thought that my daughter would be chosen for this, but then I got a call that I was chosen”, tells Mäkinen with a big smile.
The newborn baby is on a pram stroll with the grandmother during the shoot. After the Ratina shopping centre opens in April, the baby and the big sister get to come along with their mother to the Ratina shopping centre for shopping trips or to the mothers’ lunch dates.
I favour shopping centres due to my children. In shopping centres you can easily shop even though there would be slushy November weather outside. I trust that there will also be child-friendly restaurants in the Ratina shopping centre”, tells Mäkinen with excitement.
Light and more light!
An unfinished shopping centre is a challenging environment for a photo shoot, so shooting angles, lights and models’ positions are adjusted many times. Patience is required from the photo shooting crew as well as from the models, but especially from a 4-year-old. Lyydia, however, keeps on smiling and jumping according to the photographers’ requests, up and down the stairs again and again.
“A little more main light to the face. That is marvelous! No we are really close!” exclaims the photographer Nana Simelius to the shooting crew.
Light forms the idea behind the Ratina shopping centre’s marketing strategy, since this new shopping centre brings finally light also to this part of Tampere city centre.
The Ratina shopping centre’s strengths are being close to people and being genuine
The Ratina shopping centre opening in April, with its genuine, humane and tolerant image, wants to meet also the demands of the companies renting retail space. Many companies emphasise soft and communal values in their operations and want to convey these values to the customers through their retail space and operating environment. The Ratina shopping centre pays attention to the comprehensive needs of different customer groups and offers its tenant companies an easy way to build a humane and communal operating environment. And communality in the Ratina shopping centre is not restricted to communality among customers but synergy is also searched for with different means in the co-operation between the tenant companies and their stakeholders.
Published 23.2.2018