Sabia Gulati, Head of Sales and Marketing, Madame Tussauds India details the experiences the brand creates for visitors through experiential campaigns in a detailed interview with EVENTFAQS.
How did your latest experiential campaign help the brand bring alive the ‘fun’ quotient?
Women’s Day, conventionally, is a celebration of the great achievements of women through years. However, we at Madame Tussauds believe each woman is an achiever in their various roles they play. We wanted to give the women a day off and have fun with their BFF’s at Madame Tussauds. We celebrated it with glamour and fun by offering special BFF discounted tickets and organised free makeovers and hair styling for Women. As the campaign was for all women visiting Madame Tussauds, be it a pre-book, online or direct visitors, everyone was pleasantly surprised. It gave women a great chance to bond with each other and also enjoy fun moments together.
What were the mediums generally used for promotion?
This campaign was digitally promoted on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. We also had some branding in CP as well as for our walk-in customers. We use the social media and digital platforms to promote our campaigns among the digitally active youth of today.
How did the experiential campaign help in communicating the brand’s message to the customers?
Madame Tussauds is an interactive and immersive experience. With this activity, we were able to communicate well with our visitors and at the same time, keep them entertained. This was helpful to break the perception of Madame Tussauds as a museum. Women were given makeovers, some chose to replicate the hairdo or make up of their favorite celebrities. We arranged some funky props which were used to click selfies with their favorite celebrities. In a nut shell it was a day out with friends brimmed with glamour and fun amongst world’s most famous stars. It helped create a brand connect with the visitors.
What is the importance of experiential for brands in modern times?
I believe everything is an experience; these days, everyone looks for experiences in whatever they do. Be it watching a movie, going to a mall, eating out or even shopping online. And Madame Tussauds is synonyms to great experiences, this is the DNA of the brand. For us, the visitor is the center of the stage. Also, with word of mouth being such an important channel to build the brand and drive revenues, these days, we can’t afford to ignore the experiences.
How has Madame Tussauds blended experiential and digital for the modern audience?
Our focus has always been on creating interactive and engaging content for our fans online. Since, India is an extremely Bollywood driven country, we have massive fan engagement with our content. Our teaser campaigns work very well. It develops curiosity amongst the audience to guess the next celebrity to be showcased at Madame Tussauds. We also use a lot of content by the celebrities themselves. There is a huge emotional connect that people have with the celebrities that works to our benefit. In the age of social media and selfies today, user generated content helps us immensely with people sharing pictures across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc.
How does the brand see experiential campaigns boosting reach in the future?
Madame Tussauds has constantly been upgrading with time. We are a 250-year old brand, which believes in delivering exquisite experiences to the evolving audiences. Our product is modern, and we have introduced the use of modern technology in our attractions. As far as the campaigns are concerned, we do plan to offer beyond the product experience especially for occasions like Valentines, Christmas, festive seasons and summer breaks for children. Since, we are not a product that one can just buy upon recommendation, we believe in making our visitors happy through offering delightful experiences. We aim at creating memories for them and we know we have made someone’s day when we see happy faces at the attraction.
