The Short Version

• Morguard launched Alliances in Action to make sustainability visible and engaging for shoppers across 18 centers.
• The campaign paired each property with local or national partners like Lions of Canada, Diabetes Canada and H&M.
• Donation drives and in-mall activations helped divert over 17,000 pounds of textiles and 1,515 pounds of batteries from landfills.
• The campaign enabled donations that supported nonprofits, including camps for children with Type 1 diabetes and winterwear for families in need.
• The initiative generated 17.2 million total impressions and increased foot traffic by up to 14% in the centers.
• Morguard won a 2025 ICSC MAXI Gold Award for the campaign’s innovation and community impact.

Morguard’s Award-Winning Campaign Made Sustainability Visible and Valuable

While many owners and managers focus their sustainability efforts behind the scenes, Morguard wanted to do more. In early 2024, the Canadian company launched Alliances in Action to connect sustainability directly to the shopper experience. “It’s top of mind for a lot of consumers when they make that shopping decision,” said Morguard vice president of retail marketing Eleni Koukoulidis. “They want to visit stores and centers that share their values.”

Historically, Morguard has focused its environmental efforts on operational efficiency — lowering energy consumption, minimizing waste and achieving green building certifications — but increasingly, consumers expect brands and destinations to contribute actively to causes they care about.

Designing a Campaign That Connects Values With Action

Morguard recognized that to stay relevant and impactful, it needed to create visible, community-facing programs that made sustainability easy, educational and rewarding. As part of the campaign, Morguard properties teamed with organizations like Lions of Canada and Diabetes Canada on programs like donation drives and tree planting.

The national campaign won a Gold in the 2025 ICSC MAXI Awards. Here’s how it unfolded.

Morguard developed a flexible, national framework for the campaign, built on three guiding principles:

• Strategic partnerships: Pair each property with local or national organizations that align with Morguard’s environmental and social responsibility values.
• Mutual benefit: Ensure that the partnerships deliver measurable value for both Morguard and its allies, from increased visibility to greater community impact.
• Public engagement: Design initiatives that shoppers can see, experience and take part in through contests, donation drives and activations — all supported by clear, educational messaging.

“We came up with the strategy and objectives, put together briefs and ideas, and then let the local teams take it,” Koukoulidis explained. “Some [centers] formed partnerships within their communities that are exclusive to their trade area. [All the centers] embraced the idea and really went above and beyond to market it. They really believed in it.”

The campaign ran in two waves: April 2024, which was Earth Month, and October 2024, which is Circular Economy Month. Eighteen centers participated, executing 14 strategic alliances tailored to their specific markets.

Engaging Communities Through Purpose-Driven Partnerships

Below are some of the campaigns local Morguard properties ran.

Five centers partnered with Lions of Canada to install eyeglass collection bins in high-traffic areas. Promotion included social media, mall signage and e-newsletters. To engage shoppers, the campaign included a trivia game that offered education on the benefits of recycling glasses with the change to win a $250 shopping spree. The properties collected 8,189 pairs of eyeglasses and redistributed them to people with vision impairments around the world. “The Lions Club was thrilled with the results,” said Koukoulidis. “I mean, over 8,000 pairs of glasses! That’s crazy. Even we were surprised by the numbers. We thought: ‘OK, if we get 500, that would be amazing.’ But this? It completely exceeded our expectations.”

Six centers teamed up with Diabetes Canada to host textile donation drives in parking lots. For each donation of clothing, linens and shoes, shoppers had a chance to chance to win an instant cash prize, plus were automatically entered to win the grand prize draw for a $500 shopping spree. Diabetes Canada then resold those goods by to fund charitable program like D-Camps for children living with Type 1 diabetes.

Two other centers — Shoppers Mall in Brandon, Manitoba, and Prairie Mall in Grande Prairie, Alberta —partnered with local retailers and United Way to run similar textile and winterwear donation drives. The eight centers combined diverted 17,067 pounds of textiles and household items from landfills, enabled 30 children with Type 1 diabetes to attend camp and provided warm clothing to more than 200 families.

Three urban Morguard centers partnered with H&M’s garment collection program, using in-store activations, gamification — such as spin wheels for a chance to win mall swag, shopping sprees and prizes from retailers — and social content to encourage textile recycling. Two of those centers also launched winter clothing drives with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa and The Common Table.

All 18 participating centers placed battery collection bins in high-traffic areas in October. The company supported these local efforts with a nationwide education campaign via signage, digital directories and an online trivia game that explained the environmental impact of battery disposal. Nationally, the campaign collected 1,515 pounds of batteries for Recycle Your Batteries, Canada.

Ultimately, the campaign connected shoppers with causes and showed them how to make a difference. “When you provide an easy, meaningful way for people to contribute, they respond,” Koukoulidis said. “For instance, I had a little Ziploc bag of used batteries at home and I didn’t know what to do with them. Now I do. People appreciate having a place — at their mall — to bring items that can make a difference.”

Campaign Impact: More Foot Traffic, Higher Sales and Stronger Engagement

Morguard properties benefited, too. The campaign generated 17.2 million total impressions, which was 71% above target, with social media engagement rates for the various programs reaching as much as triple the industry average. Properties saw foot traffic increases ranging from 4% to 14% during their campaigns, and, by way of example, optical retailers’ sales rose $17,607 month over month during the eyeglass donation drive.

Along the way, the company learned:

• Strategic partnerships scale impact. Working with mission-aligned organizations gave the campaign credibility, reach and real-world results.
• Education engages. Trivia contests and cause-based content made sustainability approachable and participatory.
• Convenience drives action. Clear, accessible drop-off points made it easy for shoppers to participate.
• Flexibility yields productivity. While local teams adapted initiatives for their markets, their success was rooted in a shared national strategy.

Scaling Up: Morguard Looks Ahead to More Community Collaborations

Morguard plans to build on Alliances in Action by continuing to partner with organizations that align with its sustainability values and by developing new ways to make environmental and social impact part of the shopping experience. “Sustainability isn’t just about what you keep out of the landfill,” said Koukoulidis. “It’s about what you put back into the community.”