Have a Mall Show
Does your club need some public exposure? Is it looking for new members or attempting to raise the public's awareness of modeling? Then try a mall show. It's one of the best ways to put modeling up front before the general public.
This past spring several model clubs in the Puget Sound area of Washington State put on a mall show in Olympia. The public saw models that ranged from slope soarers and quarter-scale RC models to peanuts and pennyplanes.
The show was held at Capital Mall. Laurene Brown, marketing director for the mall, estimated that 65,000 to 80,000 people saw the displays during the Saturday and Sunday that it ran. (The mall draws customers from a 200,000 population base.)
Judging from people's reactions, modeling still holds a lot of fascination. Adults crowded around the display tables throughout both days. They asked questions, looked at the models, and made remarks like, "I didn't know they did that anymore."
Staging a mall show is a surefire way to attract a lot of up-front public attention to your club and instill community interest in model aviation. — Christian Weinreich
The questions and comments were very much the same no matter what the club or what types of models were displayed: "Where do you get the models?", "How much do they cost?", "How long does it take to build one?", or "I built one of those when I was a kid."
If the adults were fascinated, the kids were enthralled, especially when they had a chance to fly an AMA Delta Dart or a simple indoor rubber model around the open foyer.
Members of the Strat-O-Bats, a Free Flight club, brought the models and sold AMA Delta Dart kits. A member would wind up the model and give it to a child to launch. Everybody would stop and watch as the plane went up, circled around, and landed—or was snared by one of the potted trees.
Invariably, as soon as a flight was over there would be a rush of kids to the Bats' table clutching dollar bills and wanting "one of those"—meaning, of course, a Delta Dart.
Business was so brisk that several times during the two-day run of the show, the Strat-O-Bat members staffing the booth had to set up a production line to assemble Delta Dart kits just to keep up with the demand. By the end of the show the Bats had sold 170 Delta Dart kits and several Sig Dart and Cub kits. "We were so busy assembling kits we didn't have time to talk to the people," said Bruce Kimball, the Bats' vice president.
Also benefiting from the modeling demand was Frank Macy of the American Junior Company, which markets the old Jim Walker line of simple balsa gliders and rubber models. He sold almost all of the stock he'd brought to the show.
The mall show was organized by Bob Benjamin, a modeler and aviation artist. He started working on it in the fall, six months before the actual event. He originally approached Ms. Brown, the mall's marketing director, with the idea.
"I liked it," she recalled. "It had what I look for in a mall show. It was different and unique and was something that you would not see at other malls."
Bob contacted several of the model clubs in the area as well as the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, whose members build full-size airplanes. All but one of the clubs contacted exhibited at the show.
Clubs represented
- Strat-O-Bats (Free Flight club)
- Puget Sound Rocs (an RC club)
- Mt. Rainier Radio Control Society
- Alpine Wings (Slope Soaring club)
- Puget Sound Electric Model Club
- American Eagles (plastic model display club specializing in military aircraft)
- Society of Antique Modelers (SAM)
The Seattle Sky Raiders, a Control Line club, was asked but was unable to attend.
Putting on the mall show was a relatively new experience for all the clubs. Though there had been a previous show, it had taken place several years ago.
Mr. Benjamin said that he learned a lot by organizing this show. He offered the following suggestions for any club contemplating putting on a show of its own:
Organizer's suggestions
- Have enough tables. Almost every club brought more models than they could fit on the four tables allotted them.
- Have railings out away from the tables so the models can't be handled. Skirts on the railings are helpful to keep toddlers from walking under them.
- Check on the mall security. A few years ago a show was tried in another mall in the Puget Sound area and modelers had a hard time protecting their planes. Fortunately this was not the case at Capital Mall.
- If a club wants to sell models like the AMA Delta Dart, clear it first with mall officials.
- Flying indoor models is a great attention getter.
Ms. Brown also had some advice for a club when it approaches a marketing director about staging a mall show.
Mall director's advice
- "Put your proposal in writing, telling the center what the show will be about, what equipment will be needed, how many clubs will be involved, etc.," she said.
By everyone's standards the show was a success. Two organizations, the Strat-O-Bats and SAM, each collected about 20 names and addresses of people who wanted more information.
The merchants in the mall and the mall staff were happy with the way the show went, according to Ms. Brown, and she wants to not only do it again, but do it bigger. "Next time I would like to see more clubs and more models, so that the whole mall is filled," she said.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
