Emporium Melbourne, shopping centre co-owned by Vicinity Centres and GIC, was awarded Best of the Best VIVA Award for marketing by the International Council of Shopping Centres at an awards ceremony in Las Vegas last week.

The shopping centre bagged the top marketing prize at the retail industry’s global convention in Las Vegas for its “Reimagined” campaign, fronted by Baz Luhrmann, international film director and visionary.

The award was accepted by the shopping centre’s former marketing manager Tanya Lunardon.

The marketing team at Emporium Melbourne said their challenge was to find a way to reinvent Myer Emporium — a 104-year-old shopping landmark — and “reimagine” it into Emporium Melbourne, the city’s new $1.2 billion retail centrepiece.

“‘Reimagined’ was a guiding philosophy for everything we did to transform Emporium Melbourne,” said Angus McNaughton, CEO and managing director of Vicinity Centres.

“Our designers and developers skilfully combined magnificent heritage facades with cutting edge design. The new centre was a game changer in Australia with its dynamic retail mix and unprecedented food offering,” said McNaughton.

In 2014, Emporium commissioned Luhrmann for the job.

“Choosing Baz was always going to be a bold choice, but the ‘Reimagined’ launch delivered results beyond the company’s expectations,” said Lunardon. “The theatrical gala opening was covered by local, national and international media. The centre achieved over $21 million in publicity over the 3 month launch period alone. Baz’s dramatic razzle-dazzle provided an outstanding result.”

Emporium Melbourne stated the broad reach of the media, advertising and publicity, generated more than 18 million people through the doors in the first year of trade alone.

Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.