GGP Brings Club Noggin to 85 Malls

General Growth Properties will expand its Club Noggin preschool kids program to 85 malls by August.

Club Noggin takes its name from Nickelodeon Networks' commercial-free cable network for preschoolers. Kids meet once or twice a month for 75 minutes of activities produced by Nick and executed by local mall marketing teams that have been trained by Nick. The average audience is 50-60 kids; some malls have waiting lists. Attendees get a goodie bag, including special offers from retailers in the mall. Chicago-based GGP plans to have Club Noggin in 100 malls by the end of 2005 and is looking for national sponsors.

General Growth Properties is hurrying to meet demand for Club Noggin programs in its malls

The program rolls into GGP malls in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Seattle this month; it's already in malls in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, DC, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, St. Louis, Portland, Hartford, Charlotte and Oklahoma City. Club Noggin began testing in March 2004 in five malls.

Individual malls set their own launch date; Nick is working hard to train leaders quickly enough to meet demand, said Denielle Bertarelli, Noggin director of marketing. Malls average a 75% return rate as parents re-up their kids for new programs each month.

GGP is one of a handful of mall management firms using kids programming to drive family traffic to malls (Dec. 22, 2004 P&I). Simon Properties and The Mills Corp. also began kids loyalty programs last year.