Costumed figures woo visitors
Automotive brands have found a novel way to advertise at this year’s Muscat Festival that took off on January 10.
Car brands that are exhibiting their products in the Amerat Park venue of the festival have roped in costumed characters to depict popular figures of Hollywood including Spider-Man and the Autobots of the Transformers series.
“Children dash off towards these displays put up by the au- tomotive brands. The colourful characters attract children in droves. While accompanying adults speak with the brand representatives to learn more about the cars, children get busy clicking pictures with the characters,” said a visitor in Amerat Park.
A festival staff member performing as a character, said, “My work is to wave and greet the children. They come running to me and hug. They think I am the Hollywood character whose costume I have worn. They are happy shaking hands, hugging me and clicking pictures.”
Speaking to Muscat Daily, an automotive brand official at the festival grounds, said, “Very often, children are the driving force behind any big purchase in the house. What could be better than attracting people with their favourite Hollywood characters? Today’s customers are intelligent. So we have to find innovative ways to attract them to our products.”
Besides positioning costumed characters, some companies advertising products and services, are also giving away freebies, like balloons, to grab the attention of visitors at the festival. Another visitor said in all the years that he’s visited the festival, he never stepped near the automotive brand displays. “We just walked by. The displays didn’t impress us. This year though, no sooner had we walked a few steps into the festival ground in Amerat Park that I saw three of my children running towards a car display. They were here last year too; when I wanted to see the cars, they dragged me away to where the rides were. This year, however, they went running to the cars displays. They took photos with the characters and showed an interest in wanting to know more about the cars.”
A third visitor said, “Muscat Festival is a big affair. There are thousands of footfalls every day at the festival. It offers participating companies a good opportunity and they try innovative ways to attract more customers to their stall. Costumed characters are a great way to do this.”