A quick fire, low budget move from Madame Tussauds showcases PR hijacking at its finest

The Background

Who else thought the emergence of a new year and new decade was going to be a whole positive new reset across the board?

A slow ease back into the hubbub of it all. No? Just me?

Because boom!

Straight out the park WW3, Stormzy vs Wiley and Megxit seemingly came out of nowhere.

Furthermore, if I was shocked that Megxit happened so quickly, it was even more of a shock that the most reactive and most spoken about reaction wasn’t from the Queen herself but instead…was from Madame Tussauds.

What They Did

Reactionary PR at its finest, Madame Tussauds announced (with full press assets) that it had removed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from its royal line-up, and will be hosting them in another part of its waxwork world.

Oh, how social media erupted!

Often my measurement of how disruptive a campaign or brand is, is if it lands on my Twitter feed – because let’s face it black Twitter is a WHOLE different space to what the rest of the UK gets and if it straddles both Twitters then you’ve nailed it.

The Review

It was genius.

Forget how I feel generally about the blatant racism and disgraceful treatment of Meghan, in comparison to Kate; forget that I stand in solidarity of #RoyalFamilySoWhite (because if it isn’t a hashtag already, I’m creating it now).

The reaction was simple PR hijacking at its finest.

The shots of the waxwork couple smiling, with the royal family out of focus in the distance was just epic.

It came from the right brand and in a bold manner that could only be respected.

The stunt was a great way of getting stand out by a brand who literally only lands coverage if it adds a new celebrity to its halls or creates a shite wax figure – or both.

In Hindsight

As the world changes and social media becomes more embedded into people’s lives, we need to understand that reactive PR is as important as well-planned and thought-out, long-term campaigns.