Digital Installation Brings Madame Tussauds NYC Experience To Life

A giant new digital installation in New York City will give the tens of millions of annual visitors to Times Square – ‘The Crossroads Of The World’ – a chance to see inside Madame Tussauds.

The attention-grabbing 13 ft. by 12 ft. LED screen, which was installed on 19 June, is visible from 42nd Street. It is already proving a big hit with visitors to Times Square, who get to benefit from a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the Madame Tussauds experience.

The project brief from Madame Tussauds (part of Merlin Entertainments Group) to Banner Managed Communication (BMC), its global marketing and communications agency, was to ‘increase the attraction’s cut-through and audience share within the intensively competitive New York tourist scene’. BMC deployed its digital experience design partner, OpenEye Global, a world leader in conceiving and delivering innovative visual technology projects, to help create the experience from the eyes of the visitor.

The Madame Tussauds and OpenEye teams developed a content strategy highlighting the brushes with fame (and infamy!) that could only happen inside Madame Tussauds. Using actors and a green screen to film reactions to their encounters with Madame Tussauds’ stars, crowds outside could get a real taste of the fun that awaits them inside.

In order to drive interactions beyond the ticket booth, another key tactic was to showcase the opportunity for ‘dynamic selfies’ inside Madame Tussauds.

Davey Barrett, Head of Product Development, Midway Attractions, North America at Merlin Entertainments plc said: “BMC and OpenEye have helped us find a truly innovative way of communicating and visualizing the experience of visiting Madame Tussauds to a vast, untapped audience. We’re undoubtedly achieving our primary objective of grabbing the attention of many more visitors to Times Square.”

Catherine Burke, CEO of Banner Managed Communication, said: “Creative thinking and leading-edge technology have combined here to inject new life and contemporary relevance into an attraction with a heritage stretching back almost 250 years. This project is a perfect example of why we’ve partnered with OpenEye. They provide precisely the blend of digital innovation and execution expertise which BMC clients are looking for.”

Bryan Meszaros, CEO & Founder of OpenEye commented: “It was clear to us that many people’s perception of Madame Tussauds lags way behind the modern-day reality. So our focus was on creating content and using technology to visualize and bring to life the Madame Tussauds experience, emphasizing what an incredibly dynamic and interactive attraction it is for visitors.”