BurJuman's new concept of parking ads

Dubai's BurJuman Centre's recent action of charging its patrons for using the mall's parking area has raised concerns about advertising potential in the parking area.

Earlier this year, BurJuman had signed off the advertising rights at its parking facility exclusively with Ströer Concept Outdoor.

Although mall officials did not directly say so, imposing parking fees is directed at addressing the problem of office goers in the vicinity using the mall's parking space to park their vehicles for free through out the whole day while they work in their offices in the busy Bur Dubai area.

According to Sabina Khandawani, head of PR and Marketing at the mall, free parking has been retained for weekends and holidays.

Parking at lunchtime on weekdays will also be free along with the evenings after office hours every day starting from 6.30pm. At all other times, cars will be charged Dh20 per hour, which is redeemable if a minimum of Dh100 is spent at the mall.

BurJuman's main reason for imposing the parking fee is to reduce traffic around the parking space, which means less people seeing the outdoor ads in and around the parking area. However, Ströer Concept Outdoor said it is currently maintaining its advertising rates, and has not planned any mid-term rate revisions, "considering the fact that we now have a 'screened' audience'", said Pierre Pereira, Ströer Concept's chief executive.

The BurJuman parking used to be crammed with cars from the vicinity using the facility instead of the paid municipal parking spots – eaten up by the Dubai Metro construction. The parking fees are much higher than public car parks in the neighbourhood to deter office goers in the area from taking up space meant for mall visitors.

"We are not going to consider reducing the fees at this stage because we are not competing with other parking spaces. Our aim is to secure valid parking space for our shoppers," explained Khandawani.

Ströer's Pereira felt this would work to their advantage. "The parking fees have filtered our audience rather than reducing it," he said.

BurJuman mall is not worried about a drop in footfall. According to Khandawani: "The first couple of weeks into the new system have not seen any change in the number of shoppers entering the Bur Dubai mall."

But that is above the ground. Down in the basement, which has a capacity of 3,200 cars at a time, the car park is not as full as it used to be. Khandawani explained that the system has made it easier to drive through the parking area. "Earlier, a motorist would spend a good 45 minutes looking for a free spot. Now it is much easier."

So, who views the advertisements? According to a survey, the BurJuman Centre shopper is known to spend three times more than his counterparts elsewhere. Therefore, BurJuman is known as a top-end shopping destination. Advertisers would principally be the tenants, such as high profile and luxury brands.

"We can now be sure that everyone entering the BurJuman Centre parking area has a capacity to spend more than others. They are either BurJuman shoppers or someone who does not mind paying a high amount for parking," said Periera.

He expected advertising opportunities at the mall parking would become very effective for the real estate industry, "for we can now ascertain the audience's high disposable income".

Khandawani, however, said: "Although BurJuman houses a number of high-end brands, our customers are not only the high-income shoppers. Middle-income shoppers who can't seem to afford the parking ticket can still visit during the free hours such as lunchtime, evenings and holidays."

Offering a slightly contrarian view, Ajay Goplani, Senior Media Buyer at MediaCom, said: "Imposing fees on mall parking areas will cause a certain extent of limitation for advertising clients, but it's the shopping mall that decides which niche audience to target. On the other hand, parking fees may prove effective in drawing the right audience – high income group shoppers who have a greater spending power, and are willing to buy."

Parking advertisements can be quite effective in changing perception and influencing consumer's purchasing decisions, considering their proximity to the point of sale where such decisions are being made.

Knowing that outlets for similar goods face aggressive competition in a shopping mall, such advertisements help drive traffic to specific shops at malls. They can work for tactical campaigns such as special promotions, events and new products.