Modernizing Wax Museums
Madame Tussauds lacked the reach and engagement expected for a brand with celebrity endorsement and legacy as the premier wax artistry brand for more than 200 years.
I transformed their social media approach, resulting in +450% Impressions, +260% Engagements, +35% followers. This case study illustrates my Post Malone campaign that kickstarted growth and built lasting cultural relevance.
42M
Owned Video Views
TT & IG
3.8M
Owned Engagements
TT & IG
+30K
Follower Growth
the week we posted
Re-Shared by Major Outlets Like:
Social-Led Content
I took Madame Tussauds presence from tired to inspired by developing a dynamic strategy to curate real, behind the scenes access to celebrities and their wax figure experience. The content transformation catapulted both brand love and cultural relevance.
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​The problem: The brand was capturing and posting formulaic assets with celebrities (think airbrushed images meant for a billboard). engagement and reach were low, and Madame Tussauds lacked cultural relevance that is possible when celebrity content inspires communities.
The solution: Content needs to be social-led and curated to compel a defined audience. I developed a strategy and new social identity guidelines to bring users behind the screen, closer to celebrities. Content would be shot and edited in a style that looked iPhone native, as if you're watching a friend pull out their phone at the celebrity's wax encounter.
This approach aligned with the cornerstone of Madame Tussauds Wax Museums "proximity to fame" and translated for online inspiration that drives visitation.
In Action: Post Malone wax figure reveal (side-by-side) at Gov Ball was the test campaign of my new approach. ​Content was captured, edited, and posted behind the scenes by me and my team, resulting in "super viral" results across channels (TikTok, Instagram, X).​
Social-led content out performed the traditional brand assets by 4,000% (40M Views and more than 3.7M engagements). The new approach also drove earned conversation and cultural relevance, as it was picked up and re-shared by major pop culture news outlets on TikTok, and garnered hundreds of everyday user stitched reactions.​​
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Traditional assets followed the existing format Madame Tussauds had been capturing and posting. Three more posts per channel were posted in the traditional format. All posts in the campaign (social-led and traditional) were posted daily over a four-day period.
Transforming
Tired Content
This test instilled trust among hesitant business partners, and transformed how the organization thinks about social media. Now, the social media team are always on-set to prioritize social-led content for celebrity endorsements, brand shoots, and major projects. ​
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I also added regular in-attraction content capture and trend-jacking videos to calendars, ensuring the brand stays relevant on channels in-between major campaigns.
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Consistent
Results
With this new approach, celebrity endorsed content regularly reaches more than 1M views and a cross-channel engagement rate over 4%. As a result, my successful approach re-defined what is considered "viral" for Madame Tussauds.
In conclusion, the Post Malone campaign test resulted in a transformed strategy and entirely new benchmarks for success.
By leading with platform expertise and creating social-led, storytelling content that resonates with target audiences, I took Madame Tussauds from tired to inspired.
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2024 Growth Metrics with New Content
84M
Impressions​
+450% YoY
15M
Engagements
+260% YoY
4.2%
Engagement Rate
+102% YoY
787K
Followers
+35% v PY
Examples of "Traditional" content that underperformed before this campaign test
