The 2026 ICSC MAXI Awards, unveiled during the ICSC Global Awards Ceremony on May 18 at ICSC LAS VEGAS, honored the Marketplaces Industry’s most inventive and impactful marketing campaigns implemented between June 1, 2024, and Jan. 31, 2026. From culturally rooted activations to traffic-driving experiences and community-building initiatives, this year’s Gold winners reflect the breadth of strategies marketplaces are using to connect with audiences and deliver measurable impact. Lost & Found, a shopping center-wide interactive art exhibition in Australia, earned the judges’ nod for Best of the Best in recognition of its immersive nature and wide reach.

Explore the ideas, activations and results behind this year’s Gold winners below, and explore all the Gold winners, Silver winners and Finalists here.

COMMUNITY

The Women’s Labor Shopping Festival

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Under $10,000

In 2023, massive earthquakes devastated southern and central Turkey and displaced hundreds of small, woman-owned businesses from their stalls and shops. In 2025, however, an innovative festival offered hope and help to revive the livelihoods of these skilled artisans. Real estate development firm Rönesans Gayrimenkul partnered with the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council to launch the Women’s Labor Shopping Festival at the company’s Kahramanmaraş Piazza Mall. The two-day event granted booth space, a supportive atmosphere featuring social events and performances by local musicians, and a spirit of solidarity to 102 entrepreneurs. Attracting more than 90,000 shoppers, it inspired both renewed confidence and a movement: After the first festival, 50 entrepreneurs teamed up with the Kahramanmaraş Chamber of Commerce to form KİGEM, an organization dedicated to long-term recovery of businesses in the area, and the initiative evolved into a scalable model with 11 events planned in various cities in 2026.

Key Team Members

• Dilşad Leblebici, Rönesans Gayrimenkul
• Berna Kazmaz, Rönesans Gayrimenkul

Lulu Reboot AI + ROBOTICS TECXPO

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Between $10,000 and $50,000

To the general public, AI and robotics can feel niche, inaccessible and even frightening. The Lulu Mall Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India, aimed to change that with the Reboot AI + Tecxpo 2025. The three-day June festival showcased emerging technology to families, students and first-time users through live, interactive demonstrations intended for all levels. Participating brands included Dyson, Samsung and Lenovo. On display were humanoid robots, artificial- and virtual-reality gaming zones, live 3D printing, AI-powered music creation and more. The impact was substantial: Footfall at the mall rose 27% during the event, while mall sales surged 72.8% compared to the same period the previous year. The campaign also generated more than 7.6 million organic digital views.

Key Team Members

• Joy Shadanan Radhama, Lulu Mall Thiruvananthapuram
• Anoop Varghese, Lulu Mall Thiruvananthapuram
• Sreelesh Sasidharan, Lulu Mall Thiruvananthapuram

Teddy Bear Hospital

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Between $50,001 and $100,000

The 10th annual Teddy Bear Hospital Winter Check-Up at Chadstone Shopping Centre outside Melbourne, Australia, delivered a heartwarming celebration of care, education and community. Vicinity Centres partnered with The University of Melbourne and The Royal Children’s Hospital for the event, which welcomed nearly 2,000 attendees over two days in August 2024 — a 60% increase from the previous year — while raising $44,000 for the hospital’s Good Friday Appeal annual fundraising activity. Families explored interactive stations, including teddy bear X-ray machines, toy ambulances and other hands-on activities to better understand healthcare in a fun, comforting way. Supported by 700 volunteer medical and allied health students, the experience eased children’s anxieties while inspiring future learning. The event reached more than 1 million social impressions and increased engagement in nearby stores.

Key Team Members

• Mardi Ashkine, Vicinity Centres
• Lisa Scicluna, Vicinity Centres
• Vicki King, Vicinity Centres

Words That Heal

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Over $100,000

With suicide rates in South Africa reaching approximately 23 deaths every day, the urgency for mental health awareness has never been greater. When local musician Riky Rick died by suicide in 2022, his family launched the Riky Rick Foundation to honor his legacy. In 2025, the foundation partnered with Johannesburg shopping center Sandton City to launch Words That Heal. Part of the campaign transformed one of the city’s busiest retail destinations into an experiential space for reflection, expression and connection. The space was designed to emulate a skate park and sold limited-edition apparel to benefit the foundation. The initiative also included a tour with stops at four schools with discussions guided by a psychologist. Words That Heal’s impact extended far beyond the mall, reaching 3,600 students in schools and generating more than 2.4 million views across social media channels. For those suffering in silence, visitors shared handwritten and digital messages of hope. Most important, it created a safe, highly visible platform for dialogue.

Key Team Members

• Michael Wilson, EBM Group
• Darren Katz, EBM Group

EXPERIENTIAL

Merry Market Pop-Up

Company: Total Expenses Over $100,000

In the weeks leading up to the holiday season, Irvine Company Retail Properties’ Merry Market Pop-Up Tour delivered a retail experience on wheels to the Orange County, California area. Designed as an immersive traveling marketplace, the holiday-outfitted, double-decker bus attracted more than 15,000 visitors. The “gift guide on wheels” showcased gifts and food-and-beverage items from partners like Neiman Marcus, Bass Pro Shops and Sephora, generating more than $250,000 in direct sales. Over 23 days in November, the pop-up visited 13 shopping center, office and residential locations and secured more than 68 million social media impressions and 3,500 email subscribers. Merry Market’s blend of retail, entertainment and community boosted seasonal revenue and brand visibility, proving that curated pop-ups can have decisive impact.

Key Team Members

• Melissa Robles, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Nicole Imberger, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• James Williams, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Nicole Hsu, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Kara Fuentes, Irvine Company Retail Properties

Roblox Reloaded: Shop IRL

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Under $10,000

To attract younger shoppers who are less responsive to traditional marketing and advertising, Copenhagen’s Roedovre Centrum shopping center launched Roblox Reloaded: Shop IRL, a Viking-themed Roblox experience designed to move players from the digital world into the physical mall. Created with input from the Danish National Museum, the game blended Norse mythology with branded quests and included a replica of the shopping center, with more than half its visuals and architecture mirroring real areas of Roedovre Centrum. Players could earn points and take selfies inside the Roblox experience, then visit the mall to claim free rewards. They’d often, of course, bring one or two adults with them. The first European shopping center campaign to use Roblox as a physical traffic driver, the activation attracted 12,472 players — 149% over goal — and 3,600 mall visitors. With 1.1 million digital impressions, the concept delivered a 1,300% return on investment while building early brand affinity with Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers.

Key Team Members

• Charlotte Andersen, Roedovre Centrum
• Jeppe Larsen, Beyond11
• Nina Ferrit, We Love Ads
• Louise Hammerich Larsen, We Love Ads

The Secret Mall Apartment: Turning Controversy into Community

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Under $10,000

In 2003, a group of artists secretly built an apartment behind a wall inside Rhode Island’s Providence Place. They lived there until 2007, when they were discovered, arrested and banned from the mall. The story resurfaced in 2024 with the documentary “Secret Mall Apartment.” Rather than shy away from the controversy, Providence Place embraced it. The mall transformed the hidden apartment into an immersive public attraction, inviting audiences to step inside and engage with the story firsthand. Reimagined as an art installation, the experience shifted the narrative to one of creativity, connection and cultural impact — led in part by the original artist behind the project. With an investment of under $2,000, the activation generated significant press, more than $110,000 in ticket sales for weekly screenings of the documentary at the center’s Showcase Cinemas and an extraordinary ROI exceeding 6,500%.

Key Team Members

• Anna Covell, Centennial
• Mindy Rohr, Centennial

Korea Brand & Entertainment Expo at American Dream

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Between $10,000 and $50,000

In November, the Korea Brand & Entertainment Expo transformed the American Dream entertainment and retail center into a vibrant destination focused on the South Korean-culture sweeping the globe. Beauty, fashion, food, music and lifestyle activations spanned the massive East Rutherford, New Jersey, complex. Over three days, the expo combined immersive brand showcases with K-pop performances, celebrity meet-and-greets and product discovery, creating a multisensory experience that drew more than 142,000 visits and filled sessions to capacity. The third iteration of the event delivered a major business impact, too, as foot traffic increased 32% week over week and 11% year over year and total retail sales rose 15.3% for the month. The expo also sparked strong media and social momentum, generating 2.8 million video views. It showed that blending retail with large “culturetainment” experiences can boost foot traffic, lengthen dwell times and position shopping centers as cultural hubs.

Key Team Members

• Laura DeSwart, American Dream Meadowlands/Triple Five Group
• Courtney Bennett, American Dream Meadowlands/Triple Five Group
• Becky Ha, True Communications Co. Ltd. for Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, a Korean government agency
• Kinny Liu, American Dream Meadowlands/Triple Five Group
• Lisha Liu, American Dream Meadowlands/Triple Five Group

Bean There, Beat That Stress! SM’s Anti-Burnout Fiesta

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Between $10,000 and $50,000

Bean There, Beat That Stress transformed Quanzhou, China’s SM City Jinjiang mall into a joyful, immersive escape from everyday workplace pressure. The event, billed as an Anti-Burnout Fiesta, lasted over a month, blending cultural storytelling with playful, interactive experiences from giant inflatables and “anti-hustle” installations to games, cosplay meetups and themed social events aimed to help visitors detox from stress. Based around the popular Chinese animated character Little Bean, the festival resonated with younger audiences, driving more than 179,000 participants and an 18% year-over-year increase in foot traffic. It also delivered powerful commercial impact, boosting tenant sales and mall memberships while generating more than 6.6 million media impressions and proving to be a model for experiential retail rooted in culture, commerce and well-being.

Key Team Members

• Steven T. Tan, SM Supermalls
• Joaquin L. San Agustin, SM Supermalls
• Kaye Natalie Lim, SM Supermalls China
• Vivian Chen, SM Supermalls China
• Michelle Weng, SM Supermalls China
   

The Shops at Skyview, Skyview High Summer School

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Between $50,001 and $100,000

For four weeks over the summer, The Shops at Skyview in Queens, New York, transformed into a vibrant “campus” celebrating Asian heritage. Designed to activate the center on nonpeak days, Skyview High Summer School incorporated nostalgic high school uniforms and custom signage. With participation from tenants and community partners, the event highlighted aspects of Asian culture through performances, music, fashion, celebrity appearances, contests and culinary workshops. The Attendance Report app allowed visitors to collect Credits through activities, and qualified participants unlocked invitations to a Commencement event featuring K-pop artist Kang Daniel. The series attracted more than 1,500 attendees, and foot traffic on event days came in 53% higher than on the same days a year prior. The visually striking campaign garnered 1.2 million social impressions and 335 media mentions. Skyview High Summer School energized the entire center, proving the power of culturally driven retail experiences.

Key Team Members

• Wesley Weichia Sin, Acadia Realty Trust
• Ryan Fitzgerald, Acadia Realty Trust
• Rocell Viniard, Perform Properties
• Cara Thayer, Cara Thayer Design

TRX Market Lane: Malaysia’s First Youth-Led Creative Precinct

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Between $50,001 and $100,000

Mental health among young people in Malaysia is on the decline, and 90% of creative workers suffered from income and opportunity loss in COVID-19’s wake. In response to these sobering statistics, TRX Market Lane transformed a low-traffic outdoor corridor at The Exchange TRX shopping center in Kuala Lumpur into a precinct built around young creatives and entrepreneurs. Market Lane, an expansion of the property’s successful TRX Eats initiative, brought together independent designers, artisans and entrepreneurs via rotating art installations, micro-retail and DJ takeovers. The 24-day campaign generated 15.3 million content views, more than $800,000 in attributable sales and $6.5 million in earned PR value while helping turn the formerly dormant corridor into a recurring revenue stream projected at about $1 million annually.

Key Team Members

• Cassandra Tan, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.
• Jessica Leong, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.

BOO! Presents: The BooMont Hotel

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Over $100,000

Guests who checked into the BooMont Hotel received a room key that doubled as an RFID fob. A bellhop took them into an old “elevator” leading to a maze of halls and rooms, where they found the surprising mysteries of the fictional hotel’s haunted past. The immersive, story-fueled adventure, filled with holograms, neon art and optical illusions, took over a vacant, 7,700-square-foot inline space at the Galleria Dallas to fill the fall gap between back-to-school and the holiday shopping season. The family-friendly experience drew significant media attention, with online, print and broadcast coverage reaching an estimated audience of 640 million. Fueled by strong engagement across digital and physical activations, the event was extended by six weeks. It ultimately drew nearly 31,000 attendees, while guest-generated Instagram and TikTok coverage from a preview event earned more than 2.35 million organic views. Overall, sales in the shopping center increased 8.2% year over year for September and October.

Key Team Members

• Audrey Miranda, Trademark Property Co.
• Alex Risenhoover, Trademark Property Co.
• Camryn Cadenhead, Trademark Property Co.
• Landri Massey, Trademark Property Co.
• Carla Franklin, Trademark Property Co.

Hello Kitty at Chadstone

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Over $100,000

The famed Hello Kitty media franchise turned 50 in 2025, and Chadstone Shopping Centre outside Melbourne, Australia, celebrated with gusto through a high-impact immersive experience. The event tapped into the character’s massive, multigenerational fanbase, sending families through brightly colored, themed zones filled with photo moments, collectible displays and interactive installations designed to extend dwell time and drive repeat visits. An oversized Hello Kitty statue, a Hello Kitty pop-up cafe occupying a vacant restaurant, kid-friendly art workshops and curated merchandise lit up the center, while the five-week campaign also integrated with nearby Hotel Chadstone to extend the experience beyond retail. The activation drew 75,000 visitors to the center’s dining and entertainment precinct, marking 24% year-over-year growth, while the broader campaign generated $2.4 million in sales, including a $636,295 halo effect from retailer merchandise sales and restaurant sales.

Key Team Members

• Mardi Ashkine, Vicinity Centres
• Lisa Scicluna, Vicinity Centres
• Natalie Lawther, Vicinity Centres
• Andy Kyritsis, Vicinity Centres
• Bibian Mak, Vicinity Centres

Santa’s Magical Library and the Great Book of Imagination

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Over $100,000

Vaughan Mills regional mall in Ontario took mall Santas to the next level in 2025. Reimagined by Studio Artefact as an immersive journey, the attraction blended augmented reality, live storytelling and mobile gameplay to transform a traditional Santa visit into an adventure with multiple touchpoints. Guests moved through a cinematic chamber, interacted with digital environments, collected characters via QR code-enabled experiences across the center and concluded with a personalized Santa photo and collectible storybook. All proceeds went to nonprofit children’s hospital SickKids.  Santa’s Magical Library reservations sold out within 10 days, driving 2.3 million social impressions through real-time, user-generated content. It increased total traffic for the holiday experience by 181% over the previous year’s activation and notched $2.7 million in indirect retailer sales. The high-concept blend of narrative, immersion and giving brought joy and impact to Vaughan Mills holiday shoppers.

Key Team Members

• Elizabeth Khuu, JLL Canada
• Paulina Colabrese, JLL Canada
• Maria Bevacqua, JLL Canada
• Rhonda Richmond, JLL Canada

The Exchange TRX: Malaysia’s First Multi-Zone Festive Retail Destination

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Over $100,000

Over the 2024 holiday season, a multizone celebration spanned the entire 1.3 million-square-foot Exchange TRX in Malaysia. Visitors didn’t just shop; they wandered through a fully realized, theme park-like world that blended culture, retail and entertainment at scale. Shoppers engaged with interactive installations from brands like Tiffany & Co., live performances, and a Louis Vuitton holiday carousel. Guests also explored lavish seasonal decor, food-and-beverage experiences and exclusive gifts, while QR codes enabled real-time donations that extended the activation’s community impact. The results underscored the power of experiential placemaking: The property saw record footfall of 500,000 on New Year’s Eve and 4.5 million visitors over 40 days, and participating tenants saw a 10% year-over-year sales lift. Online, the campaign reached 20 million organically on social media channels, positioning TRX as a festive destination in Kuala Lumpur.

Key Team Members

• Cassandra Tan, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.
• Eunice Ng, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.
• Jessica Leong, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.

Culinary Adventures

Company: Total Expenses Over $100,000

Last summer, Culinary Adventures turned passive family dining into active participation throughout 46 restaurants in 15 shopping centers in California. A dedicated digital hub and Irvine Company Retail Properties’ Retail Therapy app — which serves properties in Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale — let guests browse participating offers and redeem them at restaurants across the centers. Live-cooking stations and curated food trails encouraged visitors to move throughout each property, sampling diverse cuisines from partners that included P.F. Chang’s, El Pollo Loco and Jimmy John’s. The best part: Kids ate free. The program’s integrated approach produced measurable impact. Digitally, the campaign drove a 195% surge in Retail Therapy app users and captured more than 2,000 new email contacts for retargeting, while tracked Retail Therapy redemptions generated $685,000 in direct sales. Just as important, the experience created meaningful, novel moments for families around the joy of food.

Key Team Members

• Lindsay Hermance, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Katie Dixon, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Brigid Marrett, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Kara Fuentes, Irvine Company Retail Properties
• Phillip McCauley, Irvine Company Retail Properties

ICSC MAXI Awards Best of the Best

Lost & Found

Single Marketplace: Total Expenses Over $100,000

Melbourne, Australia-area mall Chadstone Shopping Centre partnered with Australian artist Cj Hendry to create Lost & Found, an immersive art experience that blended discovery, storytelling and participation across the property. The activation included The Maze, a roughly 1,830-square-foot glass labyrinth, for which each guest received a key and searched for a matching padlock to unlock one of 50 collectible Hendry artworks; The Vault, which showcased Hendry originals and limited editions; and Ah-MAZE-ing School Holidays, a kid-friendly program with maze play and creative workshops. A daily Instagram scavenger hunt sent followers searching for hidden Hendry editions in the shopping center, while exclusive merchandise and Hotel Chadstone packages extended the experience beyond the main installations. Lost & Found attracted more than 27,000 participants across its activations and generated an estimated $3.5 million in retail sales at Chadstone. Social media reach hit 12.3 million, and people from outside the trade area accounted for 38% of visitors, compared with the center’s 22% average. By merging art-world credibility with participatory retail experiences, Lost & Found positioned Chadstone as a cultural destination both in person and online.

Key Team Members

• Mardi Ashkine, Vicinity Centres
• Lisa Scicluna, Vicinity Centres
• Stephanie Gandel, Vicinity Centres
• Bibian Mak, Vicinity Centres

REVENUE

The Exchange TRX: Malaysia’s First Ultra-Luxury Loyalty Ecosystem

Single Marketplace, Total Expenses Between $50,001 and $100,000

The Exchange TRX in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, launched a luxury engagement program built around an invitation-only membership level for high-net-worth shoppers, a premium lounge and a mall-operated luxury event theater. Located in the center’s high-traffic luxury corridor, the lounge offers personalized hospitality, concierge shopping support, reservations, gifting, family services and culinary experiences. Within the first 90 days, the initiative generated $13.9 million in incremental revenue, with transactions rising 49%. The launch also delivered 9.5 million targeted earned impressions and $550,000 in PR value, helping position luxury engagement as a mall-managed revenue platform.

Key Team Members

• Cassandra Tan, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.
• Jessica Leong, LQ Retail Sdn. Bhd.