GenYs Compete to be Named New Website Blogger
ATLANTA, April 15, 2004 – Jones Lang LaSalle’s Retail group, managers of Serramonte Center in Daly City, CA, today announced the launch of whatzbuzzin.com, a website geared for Gen Y shoppers. Constructed to parallel a teen gathering place much the same as a local shopping mall, the website offers GenYers a venue for finding sales, discussing fashion trends, discovering stores, new products and even job opportunities at their neighborhood malls.
Initially launched in mid-December at five pilot properties managed by Jones Lang LaSalle, the website has received nearly 500,000 hits. Since then, seven other properties have been added to the list of shopping malls where the website is available. “This new website will help shopping centers and retailers reach out to Gen Y shoppers; to help understand this generation’s retail needs,” said Greg Maloney, President and CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Retail Group. “Teens think of shopping as a social activity where their street credibility is largely based on their knowledge about store brands. Through Whatzbuzzin.com, Jones Lang LaSalle gives retailers a unique opportunity to build an entirely new kind of relationship with teenagers while increasing their awareness of the mall’s features, including events, contests and sales.”
According to Brian Hayashi, founder and CEO of Mallfinder Network, the leading provider of Internet-based retail gateway services, “More than 80 percent of our youth are online. Today’s teens spend less time watching TV and instead go online to research products, using blogs and instant messaging to rapidly spread buzz about new products at Jones Lang LaSalle malls. Retailers that use Whatzbuzzin.com to deliver ego and economic rewards will capture unique, local real-time insights into this $200 billion teen market.”
Based on this finding, Jones Lang LaSalle created a contest to find a GenY blogger for the website. Blogging, one of the newest online communication formats, is an online journal which acts similarly to instant messaging except the entry is posted online.
The blogger will write about topics ranging from what to get your best friend for his/her birthday to dating anxieties, as well as a number of other issues that are relevant for the GenY audience. As the site evolves and a blogger is chosen, other features will be added.
The contest to find a GenY blogger is in process and will continue until May 15, 2004. Information about the contest and entry requirements can be found at whatzbuzzin.com. A winner will be announced June 15, 2004. In addition to the opportunity to write for the website, the winner will receive a Dell laptop computer. A new blogger will be chosen every year.
About Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL), is a globally integrated real estate services and money management firm with a portfolio of more than 725 million square feet of property under management worldwide, including more than 280 shopping centers on four continents. In the United States, Jones Lang LaSalle is the largest third-party regional shopping center manager with a 35-million-square-foot portfolio of 54 regional shopping center and transportation terminals across 23 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. For additional information, visit the Jones Lang LaSalle website at www.joneslanglasalle.com.