Falling in Love with the Royal Wedding Experience

Ian Jeffries, Seattle & Bianca Geddes, Milan

No, we’re not finished talking about the Royal Wedding! Though the blessed nuptials of the now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are more than a month behind us, and every detail of the event has been scrutinized – from Victoria Beckham’s sky-high shoes to Princess Beatrice’s epic taupe hat – it’s still worth noting what a truly tremendous cultural event this wedding was for a global audience of consumers. 

According to ABC News, nearly 23 million Americans woke up in the middle of the night – or chose not to go to bed at all – to watch Prince William and Kate Middleton say “I do.” And in Italy, the public was no less enthusiastic.

So why was this SUCH a big deal for so many people? Sure, William and Kate make a beautiful couple – and common folk have always had an unhealthy fascination with royal celebrities. But the madness around the Royal Wedding wasn’t just about tuning in to watch a marriage ceremony. Gordon Coonfield, a media expert at Villanova expert, theorized that “people are really craving the shared experience of a communal ritual event. There aren’t that many universal or relatively universal cultural rituals anymore…and here is one where everyone will stop whatever they are doing, and make sure they are watching as it happens.”

Wisely anticipating that consumers were primed and ready to participate in all the hoopla of this shared experience, some savvy companies jumped on the opportunity to create special themed products and promotions. Globally, search giant Yahoo! created a special online guestbook, which allowed consumers around the world to send their best wishes to the Duke and Duchess. In the U.S., huge companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins created Royal Wedding-inspired donuts and ice cream cakes for viewing parties, and small companies like Graham & Brown wallpaper offered a 20% discount on “Crown & Coronet” wallpaper design in honor of the nuptials. (USA Today has a great round up on some of the other marketing promotions.) Even in Seattle, tiny neighborhood cupcake shops jumped on the royal bandwagon and offered specially-designed confections (which Edelman staff daintily devoured with cups of Earl Gray tea, I might add).

In Italy, small companies rapidly picked up and ran with Windsor Wedding opportunities. Locally based wedding planning companies, bakeries and flower shops opened with a “Royal Wedding” brand name (e.g. Royal Wedding Florence) or redecorated their store for the big day.

Beyond pushing products, the excitement surrounding the Royal Wedding was even funneled into broad marketing campaigns – with T-Mobile producing a wildly popular viral video spoof in the U.S. and EA Games creating a “Sims 3 Royal Wedding Parody,” which was translated into Italian and multiple other languages. Even a few national-based Italian companies even took advantage of the occasion with themed ad campaigns, such as this one for UniEuro, the home furniture chain store.

So while marketers have long viewed large events, such as the Olympics and the World Cup as a prime time to reach consumers with themed products and promotions, there may be opportunities for shared experiences that aren’t nearly as obvious. Maybe it’s celebrating the end of a massive heat wave, or mocking the hijinks of an infamous celebrity! If consumers are hungry to share in a cultural ritual with their local – or global – community, how can companies participate, or even help facilitate? And, as the Royal Wedding has shown us, that participation could mean creating a new themed product – or it could be as simple as offering a little discount to celebrate the occasion. After all, just a small, smart tactic turned around quickly could end up generating amazing media coverage, viral buzz and major engagement with consumers – or if you’re lucky, a Royal Warrant!