Revisiting Grace: A Video-Booth Experience
Last week we pulled down the execution “Revisiting Grace”—a socially-activated video booth where visitors of the exhibition (Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess) could share their thoughts on the life and times of the iconic star by leaving a video message.
The booth was installed in the lobby of TIFF Bell Lightbox for a period of four weeks and boy, I gotta tell you, the results were surprising (in a good way!).
The Ask:
Our role in the marketing of this show was that of “social media”, and the ask was to develop a social media execution that would increase ticket sales amongst the younger female target demographic. The content of the show made this an inherent challenge, as Grace Kelly is a film star from an era several generations removed from this target.
Our idea was to let consumers share their thoughts of the exhibit (incentivized by a trip to Monaco), which could then be used to feed a Facebook execution. When a consumer’s video was approved (they were all moderated), that person would get an email indicating that their video had been approved and they were encouraged to share it with their friends.
Since Grace Kelly fans in the GTA were already likely to attend the show, our intent with sharing the videos socially was to attract those on the fence—or those who assumed the show was only about dresses and tiaras—by asking visitors to share deeper, more contemplative thoughts about the “real” Grace Kelly, the nature of her stardom, the definition of glamour and other thought-provoking topics.
Surprises:
For starters, we were very surprised when, in the first week of the booth being in the lobby, we received over 150 video responses. This exceeded all expectations in terms of submissions. Our expectation was somewhere between 125-200 for the entire four-week run.
Secondly, the demographic of the people who interacted with this touch-screen experience varied wildly, but also trended towards a much older demographic than anyone had expected. At this point in time, we’re estimating that at least 50% of the video responses were from a 55+ demographic, with quite a few of them in the “seniors” category. As a result, we quietly patted ourselves on the back for developing a high-tech experience that even your grandmother can use.
In the past, when we’ve given people an experience that also allows them to “leave their mark” (for example, see the “Spectacular Obsessions” campaign), we’ve seen a reasonable amount of social sharing. But these executions have either started on social media (Facebook or Twitter) or, if they had a manifestation in the physical space, it was usually the product or result of a social media interaction.
With this execution we flipped the formula: the promotion started in the “real” world and its content fed a social media campaign. The experience itself in the physical space was a fantastic one for consumers, and lead to a ton of great content that demonstrates not just the success of the marketing execution, but the success of the show itself.
We received over 1000 submissions in 4 weeks, and the content from this campaign will live on throughout the balance of the exhibition.
Key Learnings:
There are several key take-aways that we’ve learned via this promotion:
1. Prime the audience
I don’t think this execution would have seen nearly the take-up it did if it had been done online, at home—or even if the booth had been placed in another part of the TIFF Bell Lightbox. We placed it right at the exit of the exhibition, along the path of consumers who had just spent 45 minutes immersed in the life of Grace Kelly. This was the PERFECT moment to capture their thoughts and feelings.
2. Good content comes from good questions
We made efforts to ensure that our questions were relatively open-ended, allowing people to share with us their own thoughts, and not be worried about whether an answer is right or wrong.
3. A little bit of mystery goes a long way
The exterior of the booth was designed to pique curiosity. It’s 7 feet long, 4 feet wide, almost 7 feel tall— and covered in a series of pop art renditions of Grace Kelly, courtesy of Mr. Brainwash. It is, in a word, noticeable. The outside of the booth provided very little explanation about the experience awaiting consumers inside, and relied instead on the extrinsic motivation of the prize to get people to pass through the curtain.
The booth is now living in our office, awaiting its next opportunity to surprise and delight. If you’d like to learn more about our touchscreen video booth, download a one-pager or give us a call.
Finally, here’s a couple of “best of” reels that we’re starting to put together for TIFF.