Centennial Real Estate

CLIENT CHALLENGE

An unprecedented opportunity appears.

In early 2015, Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate Company was in the process of closing a $1.1 billion acquisition of five large regional malls from industry giant Westfield. As the majority interest in this acquisition, Centennial knew that this could be big news, and it didn’t want to squander the opportunity to finally gain traction with key media influencers (like the Dallas Morning News). With little past media footprint locally, regionally or nationally, Centennial needed immediate PR support to make the most of this unprecedented media opportunity.

OUR SOLUTION

Win headlines by being clear, concise and first.

With an announcement of this significance, strategy was paramount in achieving the desired results for Centennial. COHN worked to create clear, concise and enticing messaging that would position Centennial as an emerging player in the industry, while the PR team prioritized speed to ensure that Centennial owned the opportunity. If the seller, Westfield, broke the announcement, there was a legitimate chance that Centennial might miss the opportunity to shape the story from its perspective.

RESULTS

Maximizing the moment.

In the end, Centennial was able to own the announcement and make the most out of this enormous transaction. When the big moment came and the transaction closed, COHN moved quickly to execute the media announcement plan, and the results were outstanding. In total, COHN secured more than 30 media placements for Centennial, nearly quadrupling the team objectives.

More importantly, COHN secured the exclusive interview with the Dallas Morning News for announcement story, which ran in two different sections of the paper (plus online). COHN also secured a profile in real estate trade publication Commercial Property Executive as well as more than nine national and international industry publication placements. Finally, COHN was able to engage with and secure placements in every properties local media including the Orange County Register, The Olympian-Associated Press (Washington), the Chicago Tribune and the New Haven Register (Connecticut).