Project Overview

We created a 'Winter Wonderland' for Karingal Hub Shopping Centre to celebrate the colder season and increase customer engagement. We aimed to curate an installation with multiple features that would generate online buzz and foot traffic in the shopping centre. The final installation included a furnished, life-size gingerbread house, a campfire, giant pine trees, fake snow and a selection of special props that parents and children could take photos with.

Project Commissioner

Federation Centres - Karingal Hub

Project Creator

Kinc Agency

Project Brief

Karingal Hub Shopping Centre wanted to create an interactive feature that would effectively engage customers, attract them to the centre, and increase the centre's buzz on social media. A Winter Wonderland was created and the final result included a giant life-sized furnished gingerbread house, a winter garden filled with snow and pine trees, a campfire, and more than 890 pieces of gingerbread. The installation was to be run in conjunction with a winter competition hosted by the shopping centre - there were gingerbread giveaways and a chance to win a trip to New Zealand.

Project Innovation/Need

The whole installation was novel in that it was created especially for Karingal Hub Shopping Centre. We had special props custom made to meet the requirements of the client and designed the installation in a way that hadn't been seen before in a shopping centre. It was a new and innovative way to get people talking about the centre, to capture audiences online and get them into the physical centre, and it was a great way to get customers interacting with one another - fostering the family and community values of Karingal Hub. The installation helped to increase customers length of visit and spend at the shopping centre.

Design Challenge

We designed the gingerbread house in Australia and then had it custom made in China and then shipped back to Australia. Originally we were going to have the house, made out of wood, covered in giant gingerbread tiles, but the tiles ended up breaking too easily, so we couldn't use them. There were particular props that had to be found for the installation, a few of which were difficult to source and ended up being custom made to meet the requirements of the clients and the specifications of the centre. Small challenges lay in accommodating the floor plan and layout of the installation to the size of the props that we found, but these were easily solved.

Sustainability

We used recycled wood for the gingerbread house. We ensured that everyone who was involved in the creation of the installation at every stage was employed fairly and honestly. The installation was able to be recycled and reused in almost all its elements.