New brand position for Madame Tussauds

For tourists and residents alike, London is a hotbed of attractions. Its multiple museums, galleries and spectacles make a weekend of entertainment easy; good public transport links ease the burden of navigating between destinations. One of the city’s most famous visitor attractions, Madame Tussauds, provides an entertaining day out for 2.5 million people each year. Madame Tussauds has recently repositioned its visual branding and communications strategy to reflect its global expansion and ensure its unique waxwork experience remains popular in face of entertainment competition.

Established in London in 1884 as a wax museum, the original Baker Street-based Madame Tussauds experience has spawned branches across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. London-based creative agency SomeOne was commissioned to update the brand’s visual identity and reflect the modern, diverse experience the institution offers.

Moving away from a generic communications approach with its visual-led strategy, SomeOne has worked to extend the appeal of Madame Tussauds to London residents, as well as tourists. The brand repositioning also reflects Madame Tussauds immersive and experiential nature, with striking photographic imagery by North London-based photography studio Sorted capturing a selection of the building’s most famous waxwork figures.

On its Madame Tussauds project page, Gary Holt, founder of SomeOne, says, “One of the biggest opportunities was to better capture and deliver the wax figures in photography – to highlight the expert craftsmanship and further highlight the often uncanny likeness that so many of Tussauds’ creations deliver. After several test shoots, we developed a unique method of lighting the figures with coloured light to enhance the sculptural detail and artistry.”

Engagement is also a key driver of the Madame Tussauds brand repositioning – it hopes to market itself as a key provider of engaging, entertaining experiences for any audience. This flexibility is reflected through every detail, from the brand’s bespoke typeface to the sparkles and colour palette which can be adapted for the corresponding communications outlet. To lend a more casual, personalised touch, the recognisable Madame Tussauds logo has been redrawn by hand lettering artist, Alison Carmichael.

Creative director at SomeOne, Rick Rhodes, says, “This has been an incredible opportunity to showcase how effective our BrandWorld methodology can be (even on the world’s biggest stage). Our largely non-written visual approach truly reflects the international excitement and dynamism of the new vision.”

The updated brand is now across all Madame Tussauds’ digital and printed marketing materials.