Princes Square is one of Glasgow’s best-loved shopping destinations.

Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic all non-essential retailers who resided in Princes Square were required to close their doors for several months, from late Spring to early Summer 2020.

When it was announced that shopping centres were finally allowed to reopen, there were a wide range of essential health and safety measures that were required to be implemented before reopening.

Maguires was instructed to develop a campaign which would both showcase this exciting reopening and also act as a set of clear guidelines for customers.

In order to ensure all its customers, and staff, were able to safely enjoy this new shopping experience, we developed ‘Keeping Safe, Keeping Social’.

The simplicity of the strapline helped to communicate the dual requirements of following the safety advice while still recognising the need to socialise with friends – something everyone had been deprived of during the long hard months of lockdown restrictions.

The colourful graphic style was based on the familiar ‘no access’ tape regularly seen throughout post-lockdown public spaces, most commonly seen as diagonal black and yellow stripes.

By utilising the brand colours developed for Princes Square in our 2019 After Hours campaign, we were able to bridge the gap between the ‘safe’ and ‘social’ elements.

This graphic style helped form the basis for a series of in-centre posters, banners and stickers. An instructional video was also designed and animated using this new style, providing a joined-up look-and-feel for all of the centre’s post-Covid communications.

The campaign continued throughout the Summer of 2020 and allowed Princes Square the flexibility to re-use campaign assets as and when required.

Princes Square is an institution in Glasgow. A former merchant square, constructed from blonde sandstone in 1841, it was named ‘Scotland’s Favourite Building’ in 2016. It’s a shopping destination unlike any other in Scotland.

Nestled within Glasgow’s ‘Style Mile’ on Buchanan Street, it’s long been known for its luxury stores, lively restaurants and bars. Now, with the arrival of Everyman boutique cinema, it offers the perfect night out, all under one elegant roof.

Maguires were tasked with creating awareness of Princes Square as a great destination for a night out – and not solely a premier shopping destination.

We created the ‘After Hours by Princes Square’ campaign, showcasing the energy and vibrancy of a night out in Princes Square.

To keep the campaign look-and-feel representative of the Glasgow scene, we worked closely with Sassoons Hair Salon in Princes Square, who helped us source and style our real-life models – with many selected from the luxury boutiques within Princes Square itself.

The focus of the outdoor advertising campaign is primarily on individual models, giving four ‘hero’ posters – each shot in a different environment to highlight the full offering of a night out at Princes Square.

Inspired by the bright pastel hues of the colour-changing neon lights found throughout the entrance-ways of Princes Square, the art direction of the campaign featured a similar range of bold colours and neon backdrops to create a sophisticated nightlife look.

We also shot an accompanying promotional film to help bring the campaign to life on Princes Square’s social channels.