Citizens and Sunbelt, Miller Zell Client Partners, Earn Multiple Retail Design Awards

ATLANTA, Oct. 31, 2024 — It’s been an impressive awards season for Citizens and Sunbelt Rentals, both Miller Zell clients.

Citizens’ and Miller Zell’s collaboration on the Citizens Brand Activation at the New York City Marathon Expo earned recognition from:

• Shop! Design Awards (Use of Technology)
• Retail Design Institute (Innovation Digital Integration)
• Communicator Awards (Features-Visual Effects, General-Sports Venue Activation & General-Immersive Brand Experience)
• W3 (Virtual & Immersive Experiences-Events & Festivals, Virtual & Immersive Experiences-Sports)
• American Advertising Awards (ADDY) (Innovative Use of Interactive Technology, Augmented Reality and Mobile Interaction)

Sunbelt and Miller Zell’s collaboration on a “Store of the Future” earned recognition from:

• Shop! Design Awards (In-Store Visual Communications)
• VMSD (Retail Renovation Competition Honorable Mention)

Citizens, a key sponsor of the 2023 New York City Marathon in November, asked Miller Zell to design and execute a brand activation at the marathon expo, where every runner must visit to receive their race number. The experience would be viewed by an international audience of more than 130,000 visitors over three days at the Javits Center in Manhattan.

Miller Zell designed an immersive and multi-sensory “phygital” experience that, from floor to ceiling, tied each key component together: the race, the city, the runners and Citizens.

The Miller Zell team that designed, developed and executed the Citizens project includes: Paul Wolski, Virginia Lewis, Ryan Wagner, Chad McLeroy, Patrick Neff, Sue Dowd, Chris Eigel, Laura Waterworth, Jules Homesberger, Ryan McLaughlin, Tina Chher, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Gavin Holmes, David Woehst and Reggie Barton.

Our partners from Citizens include: Denise Wolffs, Jeff McGrath, Amie Kershaw, Christina Robbio and Ashley Tenbekjian. Special thanks go out to Bluewater Tech and Captivatar for their important contributions.

Sunbelt Rentals, which rents tools and heavy equipment, came to Miller Zell looking for an innovative redesign of its tool rental showrooms, optimizing space for varying footprints. Its store renovation goals centered on improving their customers’ in-store experience and leaning hard into technology that served both professionals and do-it-yourselfers (DIY).

Sunbelt also improved brand perception by updating and modernizing fixtures and signage elements.

The Miller Zell team that designed, developed and executed the Sunbelt project includes: Allen Plaugh, Quentin Spencer, Reggie Barton, Danny Corkran, Kraig Mooney, Sandra Moore, Ryan McLaughlin and Brian Butler.

Our collaborators from Sunbelt include: Amanda Stacevicz Moloney and Mark Olle.