Ready for a miracle on Fifth Ave? In New York City, eleven blocks of the world-famous retail stretch of Fifth Avenue — from West 48th Street to West 57th Street — was closed off to traffic and opened only for pedestrians on December 4th, 11th, and 18th, from 12 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Appropriately named Fifth Avenue for All, this occasion marked the first time Fifth Avenue became a pedestrian-only street in 50 years.
To make the holidays even merrier, New York City set up barriers to repurpose a traffic lane on each side of the iconic avenue to offer additional pedestrian space during the winter season.
A festive offering from the Mayor, the closures were designed to ease crowding and encourage foot traffic to businesses during a typical busy shopping and tourist period in Manhattan. Established brands on Fifth Avenue, such as LEGO, Saks, Tag Heuer, and MoMa, wasted no time taking advantage of this opportunity. From Longchamp offering complimentary champagne for guests to David Yurman setting up an Oliver Cheng hot chocolate bar, smart brands quickly implemented marketing tactics to entice customers and capitalize on this New York wander-land.
Based on GroundTruth real-world insights , Fifth Avenue for All certainly accomplished its goal. Our visitation data insights show the avenue’s foot traffic on Sunday, December 11th was 104% higher than the previous four Sundays before December 4th. With such a massive increase in foot traffic, this was an opportunity too good for shops to miss out on.
Let us ask you a question, marketers. If a city unexpectedly gave your business the blessing of open streets and increased foot traffic, how would you respond? Do you think you have the right marketing tools to win over the surge of customers? As our holiday gift to you, here are several ways marketers can act quickly to reach new and existing customers during an open street celebration:
Cross-Device Targeting
Cross-device targeting allows marketers to target audiences across numerous devices, such as mobile, desktop, and connected TV. By leveraging this effective marketing strategy , marketers can target potential shoppers and amplify key messages throughout the user journey. From connecting to new audiences to receiving insightful ROI data, cross-device targeting should be on every marketer’s wish list.
Behavioral Audience Targeting
Behavioral audience targeting allows marketers to select consumers based on their online and offline behavior. From online behavior to gathering offline behavior data, marketers can get the insights they need to readjust their marketing strategy to any holiday surprise. Information such as visitation patterns and demographic data can also help marketers promote special offers to key audiences, encouraging more shoppers to swing by their stores.
Neighborhood Targeting
Bring in shoppers on-the-go by leveraging neighborhood targeting, which can help marketers reach mobile users in areas with high visitation. Through coupling visitation patterns and audience segments with geographical boundaries, this scalable and custom marketing solution can help your business better deliver ads in areas where your targeted customers frequent. There are other forms of location-based marketing advertisers can leverage as well, such as geofencing marketing and beacon advertising.
Want shoppers to dash through your doors? GroundTruth can predict customer behavioral trends, inform strategic business decisions, and provide industry insights. Contact us today to see how GroundTruth can help you achieve your marketing goals.
