Play Area Sponsor Reaches Over 20 Million People A Year For Fraction of Cost of Advertising

November 17, 2011

“Play areas bring families together,” says Debbie Milhouse, CBL & Associates’ Regional Director of Brand Development. “This also gives the sponsor an opportunity to interact and engage with consumers. On a quarterly basis, hospital staff will come to the mall to perform blood pressure checks and screenings, introducing them directly to potential patients.”

On Saturday, October 29th, CBL & Associates opened two sponsored play areas in two separate shopping centers serving the Nashville market: RiverGate Mall and CoolSprings Galleria. Both of the soft-foam playground areas were sponsored by Women’s and Children’s Hospital at Centennial, which is part of the TriStar Health System, an HCA affiliate.

“Our indoor play area sponsor gets to promote goodwill, wellness and healthy living to an excess of 20 million people a year,” says Jim Ward of CBL & Associates. “No other medium can do the same thing. They are positioned for long-term endearment by the community.”

Ward, who is Senior Director of Corporate Sponsorship and Branding for CBL & Associates, adds, “This gives TriStar a competitive advantage for the fraction of the cost of advertising.”

TriStar Health System is the region’s largest, most comprehensive healthcare provider with 18 hospitals and 10 ambulatory surgery centers in Tennessee, South Central Kentucky and Northern Georgia.

The fully customized indoor mall play areas feature a “Clean Hands” theme and contains elements such as a sink and faucet slide, a bar of soap tunnel, a stack of towels climber, and larger-than-life bubbles. The interactive theme offers exciting, educational, healthy and safe play for children.

“Effective hand washing plays a major role in protecting children from harmful bacteria and illnesses,” said Cheryl Read, Vice President of Marketing for TriStar Health System. “Our goal is to educate children at an early age, encouraging development of the lifelong habit of good hygiene to help keep themselves healthy and prevent the spread of common illnesses.”

Both of the indoor playgrounds were designed, manufactured and installed by PLAYTIME, LLC, the global provider of unique, interactive play areas.

Milhouse says TriStar was “amazed” by PLAYTIME’s designs. “We told PLAYTIME, ‘We want to do a play area about hand washing,’” recalls Milhouse. “We wondered what they would do with that!”

When PLAYTIME returned the initial drawings, Milhouse says everyone was excited. “The PLAYTIME artists took charge of the idea and made it fun. When the sponsor saw the drawings -- the bubbles, the slide into the sink – they were amazed.”