Article

Madame Tussauds Hollywood casts digital signage in leading role

Combining high-tech digital signage and social media apps with the all-too-human desire to snap a selfie with a celebrity (even a fake one), Madame Tussauds in Hollywood has deployed a digital signage display from Enplug to increase engagement with visitors.

April 2, 2015

The world's most celebrated wax museum is casting a new mold for the visitor experience with digital signage.

Combining high-tech digital signage and social media apps with the all-too-human desire to snap a selfie with a celebrity — even a fake one — the Madame Tussauds in Hollywood has deployed a digital signage display from Enplug to increase engagement with visitors.

At the Hollywood Boulevard attraction, where visitors can get up close, touch and pose with more than 125 celebrity wax figures, the digital signage display in the A-list party-themed room near stars such as Justin Bieber and Snoop Dogg, the large display uses Enplug's social apps for Twitter and Instagram to showcase visitors' photos and tweets on a live social media wall.

"Madame Tussauds Hollywood strives to offer the most interactive experience possible for our visitors," said Rebecca Binford, marketing manager at Madame Tussauds Hollywood, in an email. "With our social display screens, Enplug has enabled us to further enhance the interactivity! Our visitors love seeing their posts instantly appear on the display. It provides them with even more incentive to interact with our brand on social media."

When guests enter the venue, they receive a small promotional card encouraging them to post photos with the stars for a chance to win prizes weekly. If visitors take a photo with a wax figure and staff member using the hashtag #MTstaffselfie, they're automatically entered to win $50. Not only does it get the visitors involved, but the staff, too, according to an Enplug case study.

Colin Thomas, general manager at Madame Tussauds Hollywood, said in the case study he loves the engagement the display inspires and says his favorite app is Instagram.

"It's better than any sales pitch we could come up with for Tussauds," Thomas said. "The biggest value is that it gets in front of people before they even visit, giving them ideas and showing them what you can do inside.

"We always say we're way more than a wax museum. It's not dusty wax figures behind a velvet rope. Here, people can touch and pose with the figures."

And that's evident in the posts people share with their arms around their favorite celebs, like Taylor Swift.

According to Enplug, Madame Tussauds Hollywood will soon add a display to their outdoor kiosk on Hollywood Boulevard, and their other locations in Las Vegas, New York City and Washington, D.C., are also using Enplug devices to power their screens.