According the results of the visitor survey conducted by the Vienna Tourist Board, around three quarters of visitors named sights and culture as a reason for their trip to the city. In addition to people with an interest in art and culture, the Vienna Tourist Board’s international market development work also focuses on the specialist luxury, LGBT and business segments.
Target group marketing
EUROPRIDE: VIENNA – A EUROPEAN LGBT HOTSPOT
The European LGBT community came together in Vienna from June 1-16, 2019 for EuroPride. The Vienna Tourist Board spent more than two years promoting the event through media work, B2B events, marketing partnerships and appearances at other pride events in 11 countries worldwide: the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain and Austria are the focus markets for Vienna’s LGBT marketing activities. An online campaign centering on a symbolic marriage between Siri and Alexa implemented with the agency Serviceplan and Vangardist magazine generated particularly strong interest. The core of the campaign was a wedding video shot at the Belvedere Palace, which generated around 4.5m views. The campaign earned gold in the Annual Multimedia Award as well as a Red Dot Grand Prix for Communication Design.
For EuroPride itself, the Vienna Tourist Board invited around 30 international journalists, influencers, tour operators and multipliers to the city, including representatives of the Japanese business network Fruits in Suits and high-profile influencers from Italy. One of the highlights of the event was the Vienna Tourist Board float in the Rainbow Parade on the Ringstrasse on June 15 with DJ Tamara Mascara and international guests. It was named best truck at the parade. In-depth information on the 50 or so EuroPride events and the city’s LGBT offering was available from the tourist information center on Albertinaplatz, at Hauptbahnhof and the airport, as well as from a mobile tourist office that was in action at all of the EuroPride hotspots for the duration of the event. The Vienna Tourist Board shared live updates with its followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
150 YEARS OF THE VIENNA STATE OPERA PUBLIC SCREENING IN MOSCOW
The celebrations to mark 150 years of the Vienna State Opera were not confined to Austria, with Russia also joining in: from May 23-25, 2019 the Vienna Tourist Board hosted a public screening event in Moscow’s Zaryadye Park. Over the course of the three days, around 12,500 people viewed the opera and ballet broadcasts from the Vienna State Opera. Attendance was free of charge, with a total of four Vienna State Opera performances shown, two of them live. A 13-meter-high, 24-meter-wide replica of the stage in Vienna featuring two integrated LED screens measuring up to 60 square meters was built to create an immersive experience. A special audio system ensured that the world-famous Vienna sound was transported faultlessly from the Danube to the Moskva. In addition to recordings of Swan Lake and the Nutcracker, there was a live stream of the premiere of The Woman without a Shadow. And on May 24 there was a live broadcast of the opera Andrea Chénier, conducted by Marco Armiliato and starring Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov and Luca Salsi. Netrebko and Eyvazov pre-recorded a video in Russian inviting Muscovites to watch the broadcasts as well as a special greeting for the audience in Moscow.
Opera fans also had the opportunity to take a virtual tour of the Vienna State Opera and experience a 360° recreation of the 2016 Summer Night’s Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic at one of three VR stations. Top contacts from the travel industry and media were invited to an exclusive reception in the VIP area of the public screening zone. All the details of the public screening event and Vienna – city of music were made available in Russian on the campaign website, opera.vienna.info.
150 YEARS OF JAPAN-AUSTRIA WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON VIENNA
The Vienna Tourist Board celebrated 150 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Austria with a major advertising campaign and exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka and Toyota, with the support of the Wien Museum, the Belvedere and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. “Visit one city. Discover cultural gems from the whole of Europe” was the message shared by the Vienna Tourist Board in an out-of-home and digital campaign that played out in April, May and October in Tokyo. The slogan was given further exposure in guest exhibitions from the Wien Museum, the Belvedere and the Kunsthistorisches Museum shown in Tokyo, Osaka and Toyota between April 2019 and January 2020. The Wien Museum on Karlsplatz sent a number of the most precious exhibits from its permanent collection on tour, the KHM presented gems from the days of the Habsburg monarchy and the Belvedere showed key works by Gustav Klimt (including ‘Judith’), who repeatedly drew inspiration from Japanese art throughout his career. To launch the campaign, Executive City Councilor for Business Peter Hanke, Director of Tourism Norbert Kettner and Austrian Ambassador to Japan Hubert Heiss invited a group of multipliers representing the worlds of business and culture, as well as travel industry experts and selected journalists to a Vienna evening at the Austrian embassy in Tokyo on April 22. The musical backdrop for the evening was provided by the chamber ensemble Toyota Master Players, Vienna, featuring members of the Vienna Philharmonic.
ART BASEL: VIENNA REPRESENTED IN BASEL AND MIAMI BEACH
In 2019, the Vienna Tourist Board continued its long-standing partnership with Art Basel, one of the world’s most highly-respected fairs for modern and contemporary art. From June 13-16 it presented Vienna and its contemporary art scene at Basel Exhibition Center, before relocating to Miami Beach from December 5-8. At Basel, the focus was on the contemporary Vienna scene, with its latest positions and strategies forming the focus of a high-caliber panel discussion hosted in Vienna’s Green Lounge (created by Vienna-based industrial design consultancy EOOS) at the venue. The event, titled Vienna – A Fresh Look, was Moderated by Swiss curator Bice Curiger, and featured Belvedere and Belvedere 21 Director Stella Rollig, and the artist Philipp Timischl. Vienna’s appearance at Art Basel in Basel also served as an opportunity to network with key accounts from the Swiss travel and meeting industry.
In Miami Beach, the Vienna Tourist Board got its high-level visitors in the mood for Vienna with a coffeehouse beneath the palms, The Vienna Lounge wine bar, the reworked sounds of Ludwig van Beethoven and accompanying online and press activities.
EUROPEAN FORUM: NETWORKING EVENT AND NEW VIENNA CHAPTER
Under its partnership with the international Forum network, the Vienna Tourist Board and its local partners presented the city to around 80 international decision-makers in the Austrian capital at the end of March. The Austrian Forum chapter was founded at the Vienna gathering, which was the first European Forum event to be held outside London. Omar Al-Rawi, member of the Vienna State Parliament, welcomed the international guests at the European Forum on behalf of the City of Vienna. Among the contributors to the panel discussions were Chris Wilkins, former director of strategy under UK Prime Minister Theresa May, businessman and former Austrian Minister of Finance Hannes Androsch, The Economist’s political editor Adrian Woolridge, and Elizabeth Linder, director of Facebook’s Politics & Government Division. For the social program, the Vienna Tourist Board brought Forum members into contact with various Viennese institutions, including the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Albertina and the Dorotheum, luxury hotels such as the Sacher, Imperial and Park Hyatt, as well as flagship international enterprises such as J. & L. Lobmeyr, Jarosinski & Vaugoin and Weingut Christ. As official carrier, Austrian Airlines ensured that the journey to and from the event was up to the international guests’ accustomed high standards.
Forum is a classic London-style business networking club with members drawn from the worlds of business, media, art and design. The Forum network spans global cities including London, New York, Singapore and Dubai – and now Vienna. As part of the Forum network, the Vienna Tourist Board actively targets international decision-makers and gatekeepers as part of its work to position the city as a premium and luxury brand on the global stage, and to provide a platform for its partners in the city from segments including the high-end hotel sector, cultural institutions and other sectors of the economy. In this area of the Vienna Tourist Board’s activities, it works in close cooperation with the Vienna Business Agency.
