CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT: THE ARBORETUM OF SOUTH BARRINGTON

The Arboretum of South Barrington, a 450,000 square-foot retail town center features an assortment of retail stores, restaurants, and entertainment options for guests of all ages. This winter, the Arboretum wanted to make a big splash in the community through ongoing events, marketing initiatives, store promotions and more. The goal was to encourage consumers to visit the center for all of their holiday shopping needs.

An important ingredient to this plan was securing several partnerships with community organizations and businesses. The first community partnership was with Alexian Brothers Hospital Network. Together, they unveiled the Alexian Brothers Skating Plaza, a synthetic ice skating rink, heating tent, and registration area. The Zapwater team worked to obtain both local and national press for the rink. Features on the Alexian Brothers Skating Plaza were secured in the Daily Herald, Barrington Courier Review, Crain’s Chicago Business, among others. It was also named one of Olympic gold medalist, Evan Lysacek’s top ten favorite ice rinks in the United States in USA Today.

The grand opening including an appearance by Santa Claus and an acoustic performance by William Beckett, lead singer of the nationally renowned pop punk band The Academy Is.

The Arboretum also developed a partnership with Broadway in Chicago for a special live performance from Elfaba the hit Broadway musical, Wicked, followed by a ceremonious lighting of the 60-foot tree at the Alexian Brothers Skating Plaza. They also developed a promotion for shoppers who spent more than $500 in a 24-hour period where they received two tickets to see Wicked at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago.