The Short Version

• JLL has hired Angela Sweeney to lead marketing for its Lifestyle Property Management division.
• Sweeney notes that data-driven marketing and placemaking are converging to help owners attract tenants, shape merchandising and drive NOI.
• Proprietary customer data and tools like Wi-Fi enable more personalized marketing across mixed-use audiences.
• AI and evolving search behaviors are changing how properties surface information, making consistent, cross-channel strategies critical.

How JLL Is Reframing Marketing for Retail and Mixed-Use Destinations

JLL recently hired Angela Sweeney an evolution of its former retail property management division that emphasizes vibrant and experiential mixed-use destinations. The role underscores a broader shift: Digital marketing, data and proptech are becoming central to how mixed-use properties attract tenants, engage customers and drive value.

Sweeney’s marketing career began some 30 years ago and includes stints at a handful of development firms, including Urban Retail Properties, The Mills Corp. and Peterson Cos. She has led a range of revenue-generating initiatives, from traditional advertising campaigns to integrating email and social media marketing platforms into property websites and customer relationship management systems. Most recently, Sweeney oversaw Pylot, a proprietary digital marketing and strategy platform for marketing agency Imaginuity that serves multilocation and commercial real estate portfolios across the U.S. and Canada.

In her new role at JLL, Sweeney leads the Lifestyle Property Management business in support of The Mixx, the brokerage’s integrated mixed-use property management platform. Shortly after stepping into the position, Sweeney talked with Commerce + Communities Today contributing editor Joe Gose about creating digital marketing programs in mixed-use environments.

How did you get started in retail real estate?

My very first job in high school was playing an elf at the mall during the holidays. I was hooked and have been working in the shopping center industry ever since. But more and more, the industry is headed toward mixed-use environments, and I’ve spent a lot of time in those properties. One of the most memorable was the National Harbor in the [Washington], D.C., metro, which is a great example of bringing office, residential, outlet retail, boutiques, hotels, restaurants, entertainment and a convention center under one umbrella.

How has your experience in an increasingly digital marketing landscape prepared you for your work at JLL?

The ability to help drive value in mixed-use properties through marketing programs and placemaking is very appealing to me, and I’ve been at the forefront of marketing, placemaking and digital innovation my entire career. One of the areas that marketing has always been synergistic with is leasing, where you’re telling a story to help attract the right tenants and build a merchandising mix that’s going to resonate with customers. While I was at Imaginuity just prior to coming to JLL, we were focused on how technology could help our clients succeed, and Lifestyle Property Management takes that same type of data-driven and customer-centric approach that can drive [net operating income] growth.

We have tools to help us understand the psychographics and the demographics of the customers coming to our properties, and we can use that knowledge to bring in tenants that speak to their lifestyles, preferences, values and aspirations. We also look at that data from a placemaking perspective. We say: “What types of activities, events, programming and amenities at the center are going to resonate with the lifestyles of those customers in our immediate trade area?” That enables us to create authentic community connections and deliver experiences that feel more natural and less forced. And having that retail amenity base is important for office workers, who know that they can walk to lunch, shopping or other services over the course of the day.

What role do Wi-Fi networks play in digital marketing strategy?

One of the things we’re most interested in from a Wi-Fi perspective is having the ability to market one-on-one and deliver personalized messages to our customers, whether they’re an office worker, resident or local community member. We can use Wi-Fi to communicate various messages about events or other activities happening throughout the project to specific audiences or to all constituencies. But I think from a general marketing perspective, the more first-party data you can capture that allows you to speak to your customers is the most beneficial.

MORE FROM C+CT: Shopping Centers Adopt E-Commerce-Style Personalization To Target Shoppers

As digital innovation continues to accelerate, which changes do you expect to have the biggest impact on property marketing?

There are two ways to answer that question. One is in the amount of data that’s available today. We have access to some of the most sophisticated data sources that can help us get to the core of our customers. If you correctly use the data to put together the right story and carry it through your merchandising selection, events and activations across a project, you can create an environment where your customers will want to shop and spend time and ultimately spend their money.

The second is the growth of AI. One of the biggest changes over the last five years is the impact that AI has had on searches and how people find information about what your properties offer, whether it’s shopping, dining and event opportunities or renting office space or an apartment. So we need to be smart about creating a marketing ecosystem that shows up in the rankings and delivers the information to where people are looking for it, whether that’s through ChatGPT, Google or other search engines. That means having consistent information across all of the channels we’re using, including websites, social media, email blasts, blogs or press releases.

MORE FROM C+CT: How Shopping Centers Can Win With SEO and AEO in the Age of AI

What are the key goals and challenges when developing marketing programs for mixed-use properties with diverse audiences?

At a property like The Plaza Coral Gables [in Florida] that has office towers, multifamily and retail, our approach is to be consistent across all categories. Our marketing programs aren’t just marketing the retail; they’re marketing The Plaza Coral Gables and all of the entities within it to create a consistent message and brand that speaks to all of the property’s audiences.

You also have to think about how to seamlessly blend all of these uses together while being sensitive to individual needs. You’re not going to have a concert that’s blaring music at 11 o’clock at night when a multifamily tower is part of the property, but there are a lot of programming, activations and placemaking opportunities that can be applied across the uses consistently. The office worker can do yoga on the plaza at lunchtime just as a resident living inside or outside of the project can.