The Brief

As part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Westfield is entering the Kingdom with Cenomi Centers, rebranding key malls in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam as flagship lifestyle destinations that blend premium retail, dining and entertainment. In a rapidly growing experience economy where visitor numbers, leisure spend and expectations are all rising, these Westfield malls need to set the benchmark for experiential retail, not just match it. The existing Westfield App already supports navigation, discovery, events and membership, but usage is below its potential—so Westfield challenged us with a simple question: “How would you gamify the mall?” Our response needed to increase app engagement and loyalty by weaving play and rewards into the entire journey, while also directing footfall to under-used areas, delivering memorable hybrid app–onsite experiences, supporting promotions and unlocking richer behavioural insights for future personalised campaigns.

The Opportunity

Vision 2030 is reshaping how people in Saudi Arabia spend their time and money, with entertainment and immersive leisure now central to everyday life. As new venues and destination experiences raise expectations, malls are no longer just retail hubs—they’re competing with a wider ecosystem of high-experience environments, and Westfield Saudi has the opportunity to lead by reimagining the mall as a living game, not just a place to shop.

Our strategic response is the Westfield Digital Ecosphere: one connected world where every interaction is rewarded and the existing Westfield App becomes the central hub for play. Every tap, visit, scan or challenge feeds into a sense of progression—points, badges, collectibles and status—boosting app adoption, directing footfall to key zones, encouraging repeat visits and generating rich behavioural data, all while turning discovery, challenge and community into core parts of the mall experience.

Concepts

Wayfinding / Navigation

Magic Path Finder

Find your way through play.

Magic Path Finder transforms a functional task – finding a store – into a moment of fun and personalisation. Guests choose themed navigation experiences that reflect their age, interests or intent, and the Westfield App responds with character-led, colour-coded paths that guide them through the mall. Routes become playful, visually rich journeys rather than flat map lines, making wayfinding more intuitive while nudging guests into new zones along the way. The result is navigation that not only gets people where they need to go, but encourages them to explore deeper and remember the experience.

Geospatial / Location-Based

Wellness Walks

Move, explore, unlock.

Wellness Walks turns everyday movement around the mall into a rewarding, personalised challenge. Guests opt into star-inspired wellness routes and automatically earn points and badges simply by walking, thanks to micro-geofence zones that track progress without the need for constant tapping. Each route is designed to blend light exercise with discovery, guiding people past new stores, viewpoints and experiences while reinforcing Westfield’s role as a lifestyle destination, not just a shopping stop.

Geospatial / Location-Based

Treasure Hunt Arabia

Every visit is an adventure waiting to be unlocked.

Treasure Hunt Arabia reimagines the mall as a playful world of exploration and discovery. Using the Westfield App, guests follow digital clues that draw them into real-world locations, meeting characters, uncovering surprises and triggering fun educational moments along the way. As they explore, they collect digital artefacts, complete themed sets and unlock perks, transforming a routine visit into a story-led adventure that encourages people to roam further and stay longer.

Geospatial / Location-Based

Mall Conquest

Explore the mall. Capture the map.

Mall Conquest turns the mall into a dynamic, team-based strategy game. Guests join teams and “capture” digital territories by physically visiting zones and stores, with ownership shifting as rival teams make their moves. A live, ever-changing map shows which areas are under whose control, keeping the experience fresh and driving repeat visits as players return to defend or reclaim key locations. The combination of real-world movement, light competition and social play makes Mall Conquest a powerful tool for driving targeted footfall and building community.

Immersive Digital Displays

Pearl of the Persian Gulf

Dive in. Discover treasures.

Pearl of the Persian Gulf is a large-scale interactive underwater world that transforms Westfield’s digital screens into a shared spectacle. Guests connect via their phones to steer their character through a stylised seascape inspired by Saudi’s maritime heritage and the Red Sea, feeling haptic feedback as they dodge obstacles, discover sea life and collect shimmering pearls. Each pearl contributes to digital collectibles and in-mall rewards, encouraging guests to return and “dive again” to see how the environment evolves with collective play. The experience becomes a visual icon for the mall and a natural gathering point for families and friends.

AI & Personalisation

Nomi

Your smart companion for every mall visit.

Nomi is a conversational assistant that makes the mall easier to navigate and more enjoyable to explore. Guests can ask simple questions – “Where can I find a quiet café?”, “What’s good for kids nearby?” – and receive clear, tailored store suggestions with bite-sized descriptions. With a single tap, Nomi’s recommendations feed directly into Magic Path Finder for instant directions. Beyond utility, Nomi also supports gamified engagement: chatting, exploring suggestions and completing mini-quests can earn points, perks and playful avatar upgrades, turning a practical guide into a character people look forward to interacting with.

NFC / QR / Bluetooth Check-In

Imaginarium Portals

Their world. Their story. Brought to life.

Imaginarium Portals is a family-focused storytelling layer that turns the mall into an explorable narrative world for children. Parents create a simple profile in the app, and with a tap on NFC points around the mall, kids are dropped into personalised adventures that use their name, interests and age-friendly themes. Chapters of the story unlock at different locations – from play zones to partner stores – naturally guiding families through the mall while keeping children engaged. Each new portal feels like another doorway into “their” world, encouraging repeat visits to see how the story unfolds.

NFC / QR / Bluetooth Check-In

Culinary Passport

Taste your way through the mall.

Culinary Passport rewards guests for trying new food spots and supports both large and small F&B vendors. Each participating outlet uses simple QR stickers on packaging or counters, so no complex tech setup is required. Every scan adds a beautifully designed, country-themed stamp to the guest’s digital passport, turning meals into a mini global tasting tour. As collections grow, guests unlock rewards and offers, driving discovery across dining categories and motivating people to return to complete their passport.

Response to the Brief

Our response was to treat the entire Westfield environment as a connected game layer, rather than a collection of isolated activations. Under the banner of the Westfield Digital Ecosphere, we developed a suite of gamified concepts that plug directly into the existing Westfield App—turning it into the central hub for navigation, play, rewards and progression before, during and after every visit.

Each concept is designed to stand on its own, whether it’s playful wayfinding, location-based adventures, immersive digital displays, personalised AI guidance or NFC-powered storytelling. However, the true power of the Ecosphere emerges when three or more of these ideas run together under one unified system: guests experience a seamless journey where every walk, scan, tap or challenge contributes to their status, collections and rewards, while Westfield gains a flexible, future-ready platform that can be refreshed with seasonal themes, brand takeovers and new content over time.