That's on the verge of changing. Locally based media researchfirm Arbitron Inc. and Scarborough Research, a shopping-patternresearch firm that's a joint venture of Arbitron and VNU Inc., aredeveloping "reach and frequency" metrics for malls, a set ofmethodologies for measuring who sees what in mall-based advertisingand marketing. Universally accepted metrics for malls do notcurrently exist, and their creation would help facilitate theacceptance of malls as marketing platforms among the media-buyingindustry. It could also mean millions in additional revenue forshopping mall owners.

"There are millions of Americans who shop at malls on a regularbasis, so it's a large-reach opportunity for advertisers," BillRose, VP and general manager of Arbitron New Ventures, tells GSR."More importantly, it reaches people when they have their shoppinghat on, when they're making their buying decisions. Conceptually itmakes a lot of sense. The closer to the purchasing decision, themore effective the advertising is going to be. That's a valueproposition for advertisers.

"[Still], more work needs to be done to promote the value of themedium," he continues. "Simon [Property Group] has begun this, butmore remains to be done. You want advertisers to understand mallsas media. We need to promote the idea aggressively, because thereare a lot of other advertising propositions out there."