In May, three representatives from The Wilbert Group attended ICSC Las Vegas 2022, the largest retail real estate conference in the world. After a two-year hiatus following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were ready to hit the ground running this year. And so were our clients! We represented nine clients on the conference floor, arranged meetings with top retail real estate journalists and executed a variety of PR strategies to support our clients’ business goals.  

Although ICSC Las Vegas takes place in late May, Wilbert begins planning months in advance. This allows us to secure long-lead opportunities in trade magazines that are distributed on the conference floor. We also coordinate digital news features with top-tier media outlets leading up to and during the event. Globe St. quoted Cooper Carry’s Sam Bennett in this piece about post-pandemic retail trends.

During the conference, we set up informational meetings with journalists as well as interviews that were broadcasted to attendees. For example, CoStar news interviewed Brett Horowitz of Branch Properties about the future of grocery-anchored retail. You can view the segment here.

For other clients, ICSC provides the perfect opportunity to leverage newsy milestones to create buzz on the conference floor. Hines and Columbia Development were gearing up for the June grand opening of Fenton, a 69-acre mixed-use project in North Carolina’s Research Triangle that was seven years in the making. As one of the largest retail-driven projects in the country to deliver this year, the high-profile destination was a hot topic at the event, and our team was able to leverage the upcoming milestone to arrange interviews for the project’s leasing director with journalists from Chain Store Age (view story here), Shopping Centers Today and CoStar (view story here).

In addition to media relations, we deploy digital content and social media strategies that leverage the hashtag #ICSC. Wilbert client CBL Properties launched a new podcast, “Meet Us At the Mall,” in the weeks leading up to the event, and our team helped amplify its first episode across CBL’s social media channels. For Branch Properties, the Wilbert social team created custom graphics and posts highlighting the firm’s presence at the conference before, during and after, and added engaging pop-ups to the Branch website encouraging other attendees to schedule a meeting with their retail experts.

We also had the honor of seeing a few of our clients win big at the 2022 MAXI Awards! Wilbert submitted the winning nomination for the Paris Vintage Market at The Promenade Shops at Briargate, an upscale shopping center owned by Wilbert client Hines.

Wilbert works hard in Vegas, but we also play hard. Our team had the pleasure of attending several client-hosted events, including a media breakfast hosted by JLL that provided an exclusive first look at the latest iteration of the firm’s national retail outlook report, as well as happy hours and after-hours events hosted by leading CRE firms.

After years of virtual events, we are delighted to gather with clients in person again. ICSC Las Vegas kicked off the return of live conferences, and we can’t wait to support our clients at more industry events throughout the year, from the National Association of Real Estate Editor’s fall conference to ICSC Southeast.