Mexico and the Flash Pack create immersive Day of the Dead activity

Mexico celebrated the Day of the Dead last week at London St Pancras Station with an immersive pop up photo experience created by The Flash Pack. Over the week, 4302 people went through the booth and 1721 photos were taken which resulted in 646 shares on social media.

The activity consisted of a five meter square stand designed in black, with bright colours to create an impact in the station concourse. The stand featured a photo experience with Day of the Dead themed props – including masks, skulls and flower headpieces – and a professional face painter to help travellers look the part before having their photograph taken in the themed photo shoot area. Two actors played the parts of Catrina and Catrín – two characters traditionally associated with the festival – to lead participants through the activation and make the event more immersive.

Forty coloured handmade skulls were flown to the UK from Mexico to adorn a feature wall, and some lucky participants took home a small model skull with their name painted on the forehead (as is tradition in Mexico) as a memento of their experience.

Participants chose their props, had their face painted and then posed for a photograph in the shoot area. Then an added surprise element brought some more fun to the process: when guests viewed their photograph on the screen, they were amazed by the surprise addition of a popular Day of the Dead character who appeared to be sharing the photograph with them. The image was then shared directly to social media from a touchscreen on the stand for a chance of winning a holiday to Mexico. Each participant then took home a printed photograph in a highly decorated wallet.

Jerome Maas, co-founder and brand experience director, The Flash Pack said: “The activity is really striking and very closely reflected the colour and vibrancy of the Day of the Dead festival, it’s created quite a stir in the station and travellers can’t help but be lured in to get involved. It’s very topical too because the Day of the Dead has been featured in ‘Spectre’, the new James Bond film. The images that are created are visually surprising for guests, which in turn evoke positive emotion and brand association. These images then make very shareable content for social media.”

The Flash Pack created the activity in the UK which included the stand design and build, graphics, staff selection and the full creation of the photo experience with a micro site, daily statistic tracking, reporting and full social media sharing capability.

The activity was open from 10am to 8pm every day (Monday 2nd November to Sunday 8th November). Live video footage was streamed to the client in Mexico so that they could view the activity.