An audio-triggered app is part of a communications push to support the relaunch of one of Australia’s shopping precincts, Sydney’s Macquarie Centre.

IPG Mediabrands agencies UM, Ensemble and mobile solutions business Mnet are coordinating the marketing communications for Macquarie Centre, which officially opens its $440 million refurbishment today.

It will be Sydney’s largest shopping centre and one of Australia’s top 10, with an extra 100 specialty stores and more than 5,000 parking spaces. The Macquarie Centre opening will be further boosted by being home to Australia’s largest selection of famous international high street fashion brands including Sydney’s first H&M, Forever 21 and an Uniqlo store, plus a Zara and Gap store.

UM is the lead media agency for The Macquarie Centre and is coordinating a strong media partnership across News Ltd assets and Vogue Australia as part of the program. Other media being deployed includes Out of Home, radio and digital components, with a heavy emphasis on reaching Sydney suburbs in proximity to the Macquarie Centre using 150,000 copies of a bespoke fashion magazine that has been created specifically for the new fashion-focused centre.

A centre piece of the relaunch is a large-scale fashion show designed and managed by Ensemble featuring contemporary fashion trends curated from stores in the centre’s new fashion precinct. To enhance audience participation in the show, Mnet has developed a highly sensitive world-first app called MyMacquarie that reacts to the live program on the runway and displays the individual looks on people’s mobile screens.

The interactive capabilities of the app allow people to choose the individual items they like and save them to their “MyLookBook” for future reference. With a personalised shopping list completed the app is able to locate the selected items within the Macquarie Centre and guide people directly to the right stores.

“The ability of the IPG Mediabrands group to bring all their marketing disciplines together under one team was the winning formula in delivering a multi faceted campaign across many platforms,” said Yael Bradbury, senior marketing manager of the Macquarie Centre. “This includes a first in mobile experience which further complements the new fashion offer at Macquarie Centre.”