• by March 17, 2004

SIMON SAYZ IT WITH MEDIA RESEARCH - We've always been bemused by the efforts of Simon Property Group to position its array of shopping centers as an integrated advertising medium. Now the real estate firm is putting its money where its mouth is, licensing some of the very same media research used by agencies to plan buys for other local media. In a deal with Arbitron and Scarborough Research, Simon says it will utilize Scarborough's local market media survey to pitch itself alongside local print and electronic media.

"We expect that advertisers and media planners will find the reach of Simon Malls compelling and eye-opening," explains Stewart Stockdale, chief marketing officer of Simon and president of Simon Brand Ventures, the direct-to-consumer arm of the company.

Noting that the "Simon Mall Media Network" currently reaches 100 million consumers - and 2 billion "visits" (think hits, but the brick-and-mortar kind) - annually, he says the company will begin using the Scarborough data to convey those place-based media impressions in a way that would be palatable to media planners and buyers.

"In Boston, for example, Simon Malls reaches 72 percent of the adult market over three months, comparable to major local newspapers and television stations," notes Stockdale.

While the deal covers Scarborough's data, which is jointly owned by Arbitron, Arbitron will also be providing training to Simon's media sales staff on how to utilize the data in a way that will get through to the media planning crowd. As such, the deal represents another step in the rapid diversification of Arbitron, a company that at one time was known primarily for its radio ratings, but now is becoming known as a true multimedia player. In addition to its development of the portable people meter, as well as an outdoor measurement system, Arbitron is now consulting the mall media business.

"Armed with Arbitron and Scarborough data, Simon will be able to show advertising agencies and direct marketers how to match their target audiences to a mall's key consumers with greater precision than traditional mall marketing permits," suggests Alisa Joseph, vice president-advertiser marketing services at Arbitron, adding "This new information will also help agencies and advertisers better understand the growing role of mall and shopping center advertising in the media mix."

MARTHA STEWART LIVING LIVES ON - Readers and the advertising community may have abandoned Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in droves, but there's one constituency that seems to still think the magazine has some value: The American Society of Magazine Editors. ASME announced today that MSL has been nominated for general excellence in the over 2,000,000 category. Other titles vying for the honor are Newsweek, Time, O and National Geographic. The awards are handed out May 5. There's no word whether Martha will make it for the event, at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, but she could, since she won't be sentenced until mid-June.