Red Cross and Klépierre, a steady collaboration
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In 2015, an Italian Red Cross first aid point was set up in Porta di Roma shopping center, for the first time in an Italian shopping Mall, the starting point of a continuous collaboration between the charity and shopping mall.
“Because everyone can, in one way or another, each in his own sphere, contribute to this good work”
In 2015, an Italian Red Cross first aid point was set up in Porta di Roma shopping center, for the first time in an Italian shopping Mall. The experience became the starting point of a continuous and fruitful collaboration between Galleria Commerciale Porta di Roma and the Italian Red Cross which, to this day, results in the most varied and recurring appointments throughout the year, aimed at raising awareness among the mall’s operators and visitors. “With the Italian Red Cross - explains Filippo de Ambrogi, Porta di Roma Shopping Center Manager, who initiated the longtime collaboration - we have consolidated a partnership that has allowed us to obtain excellent results over time; we estimate an average of 800 rescue interventions per year carried out directly by the Italian Red Cross First Aid Point in Mall. For us it is a great result”.
In February 2020, the growing number of infections due to the new coronavirus COVID 19, together with the disinformation and panic that the virus was generating in the population, led Porta di Roma’s management team, always attentive to its territory, to take action. “Citizens were bombarded with unclear information and interpretations, and this was clearly perceivable in the daily life of the mall - says Federico Betti, Galleria Porta di Roma marketing manager. It was important for us to inform our customers with smart means of communication and the right campaigns, such as the one promoted by the Italian government: Informarsi per Prevenire (Inform to prevent)”. Italian Red Cross volunteers were available in Porta di Roma mall all day Saturday and Sunday between February and March, to answer to visitors’ questions and concerns, sharing good prevention practices and precautions to avoid risks. The entire area dedicated to this initiative became a communication tool itself: all central square columns were covered with information and recommendations from the Ministry of Health (ISS). Furthermore, a quantity of leaflets and illustrative brochures were distributed to all interested parties.
The steady relationship between Italian Red Cross and Porta di Roma and the 2019 action promoted by the Italian Council of Shopping Centers, involving both Klépierre and its Italian shopping centers (resulting in a 475K donation from the malls and their customers), strengthened the collaboration with the Association, especially at the beginning of the lockdown when the Italian Red Cross was recruiting volunteers to help people in need. Klépierre’s idea was to deliver, through its social media channels, an emotional message focusing on the Italian Red Cross activities, and, at the same time, celebrating all its volunteers.
Liaising with Housatonic (a creative agency from Bologna) we worked on a brief animated cartoon, that was launched on all our shopping malls social media pages, together with the Italian Red Cross channels: the resonance was quite outstanding. “Over the past months we have been receiving support from many entities: companies, celebrities, institutions, philanthropists and people - states Laura Bastianetto, Italian Red Cross communication director - Everyone wanted to take part in our project, adding passion and creativity to every kind of support given. This is the case with Klépierre, to which we are grateful for the donation of a beautiful animated cartoon, that gave us the chance to show our activities and, at the same time, relaunch an important call to action: everyone’s help is needed. It recalls the famous sentence by Henry Dunant, our Movement’s founder: “Because everyone can, in one way or another, each in his own sphere, contribute to this good work”.
Even though it was hard to measure the direct outcomes of the campaign in terms of donations (since more channels were open for it), concrete results came shortly form the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, which asked to have the video translated in their four official languages, in order to spread it internationally (the video was published on social media channels of several Red Cross national associations all over the world, reaching hundred thousand people). This campaign reinforced Klépierre Italy’s bond with the Italian Red Cross and it and may lead to new European collaborations with the international Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. On national level, the collaboration is just started and in the following months it will be reinforced to strengthen the communicative power Italian Red Cross and Klépierre can deploy jointly covering the most urgent issues of this challenging moment.
