Wide-ranging 360-degree campaigns referred to as communication peaks are among the Vienna Tourist Board’s marketing highlights. Often centering on topics that are relevant to current developments in the media or wider society, they comprise both online and offline measures and appeal to different target groups, including international travelers and representatives of the travel industry, as well as journalists thanks to their news value. In 2019, campaigns run by the Vienna Tourist Board and its agencies amassed 25 national and international awards.
Campaign Highlights
UNRATING VIENNA
In its ‘Unrating Vienna’ campaign, the Vienna Tourist Board had the mania for online ratings firmly in its sights, encouraging guests to discover the city on their own terms and create their own experiences. The campaign ran in Hamburg and London in June before moving on to Paris, Barcelona and Madrid in October. Tailored to the different countries, the campaign posters showed images of enjoyable holiday moments plastered with negative and controversial ratings. While the names of the original contributors were changed to protect their identity, the ratings and comments were real. Examples included a romantic boat trip on the Alte Donau which was dismissed as ‘boring’, a crispy Wiener Schnitzel that was slated due to a ‘lack of sauce’ to go with it and the one-of-a-kind views of Schönbrunn Palace getting a thumbs down due to the ‘state of the lawns’. Deliberately provocative, the question ‘And who decides what you like?’ was included to encourage people to think for themselves, accompanied by ‘Discover your own Vienna’ as a call to action.
In cooperation with the MuseumsQuartier and the Leopold Museum, giant versions of the most critical and absurd ratings posters were projected on the exterior of the museum from June 6-8. The Vienna Tourist Board also invited influencers from the countries the campaign ran in to come to Vienna, encouraging them to get a feel for the city without relying on other people’s ratings. For the duration of the campaign, a random generator at the tourist information center on Albertinaplatz came up with suggestions for typically Viennese encounters far from the top 10 lists. The #UnratingVienna hashtag on Facebook and Instagram, which was also promoted in ad placements on TripAdvisor and addressable TV sparked international discussion that was picked up by numerous media. 91 reports in 18 countries covered the campaign, giving it a potential reach of 418 million contacts.
UNHASHTAG VIENNA
In its ‘Unhashtag Vienna’ digital detox campaign run in the United Kingdom, Germany and the US, the Vienna Tourist Board called on people to rediscover the joy of travel while turning their back on selfie culture. The campaign showed visitors to Vienna who pay more attention to their smartphones than to the attractions in front of them. A large hashtag in the center of the image obscures the view even more. The Vienna Tourist Board’s message was: ‘See Vienna – not #Vienna’. Launched in autumn 2018, the campaign first ran in Hamburg, Berlin and London before moving to New York and Silicon Valley in April and May 2019. As a PR highlight, a large red hashtag obscured visitors’ views of Klimt’s famous Kiss at the Upper Belvedere for three days in November 2018. The campaign generated around 70 media reports in 15 countries, with its online and offline measures (first and second runs) generating a potential reach of 455 million.
The campaign and Klimt stunt at the Belvedere by Vienna Tourist Board and Wien Nord + Now won numerous prizes: two gold Effies, one gold and two bronzes at webAD, a special prize in the State Prize for Marketing, seven Veneres from Creativ Club Austria (one gold, four silver and two bronze), as well as one Silver Nail from the Art Directors Club for Germany.
YOURSTAGE.VIENNA.INFO REVEALING A DIFFERENT SIDE TO VIENNA
In April, the Vienna Tourist Board launched a purpose-built multimedia website containing countless tips and suggestions for visitors looking to engage with the city and its inhabitants on a different level. Inspired by the central theme of ‘Vienna, the stage is yours!’, visitors were invited to immerse themselves in authentic everyday situations and experience the city from a different angle: a 40-minute tram ride was recast as meditation on the D tram, the wilderness of Vienna’s Central Cemetery given center stage, and the paternoster lift at City Hall put in the spotlight. The Vienna Tourist Board campaign, which was also an eye-opener for people who live in the city thanks to its fresh insights, was publicized in a digital activation campaign in the German-speaking markets as well as France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Teaser films that showed caricatures of some of these encounters encouraged people to click through to the microsite.
VIENNESE WINTER WONDERLAND
In its Viennese Winter Wonderland digital campaign, the Vienna Tourist Board focused on the city’s appeal for an international audience during the coldest time of the year. One of the aims was to put the city on travelers’ radars for the off-season months of January and February. From November 6, 2019 to January 31, 2020 travelers from the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Romania, Russia and the United Arab Emirates were given an insight into the capital’s wintertime attractions on Facebook and Instagram, and via banner ads on digital media. Combined with the slogan ‘A trip to Vienna in winter – a dream’ the romantic side of the city was given a chance to shine, with a stylized ice-crystal version of the W for Vienna (Wien) providing a uniform visual thread across all of the Vienna Tourist Board’s ads. Vienna Christmas World and Vienna Ice Dream on Rathausplatz, the Christmas lights and the New Year’s Eve fireworks were featured alongside aspects such as shopping, Viennese balls and museum visits.
The winter.vienna.info page lets visitors experience a Viennese Dream Analysis that helps reveal the ideal winter experience for them, based on their preferences. All of the tips for spending winter in Vienna were collected in the Vienna Winter Dreams brochure, which was published in German and English.
