11 February 2008

Austria Launches New Brand Campaign

After several months of exhaustive research, soul searching and think-tanking, the Austrian National Tourist Office, together with some of Europe's finest advertising minds have released their new brand campaign which supports their long-standing 'Vacation in Austria' premise.

Behind the five little words 'âœ 'It's got to be Austria' stands a substantial body of work devoted to qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Recognising how dynamic the tourism industry is, ANTO's Chief, Petra Stolba, led the initiative for change. 'When I took on my job, I considered that the images in use accurately represented our brand." "But brands change" she said confidently at the Austrian and Central European Travel Business trade show in Vienna.

In recognising that, the team set about determining the essence of their brand and how it engages Austria's various target groups. With so many varied groups to consider the task became one which, while maintaining a single minded proposition, required multi level applications in visual form.

According to Ariane Tockner, responsible for brand management, 'We wanted to translate the brand's characteristics into visual words that are understood by our target groups and even more, are felt emotionally.'

And with a highly charged series of images depicting some of the iconic Austrian symbols, together with clever tag lines, the results are expected to have a broad impact in the competitive European marketplace.

The image of half a dozen members of the Vienna Boys Choir, looking cheeky and coquettish, is one of the posters blazoned across megasites and billboards everywhere.

Together with the strap line 'The world's oldest boy group', it's a clever marriage of tradition and contemporary cleverness.

Other images in the series focus on the beauty of Austrian attractions such as Tyrol, Salzburg and of course the culture of Vienna. They all tie together with the line 'It's got to be Austria.'

Astrid Mulholland-Licht, who runs the Australian operation for the ANTO says the campaign will have a particular relevance in Australia. 'The campaign rolls out here from February and with their well-developed sense of humour, Australians will respond to the messages in the campaign,' she said.

Mulholland-Licht has an ambitious marketing plan for Australia and New Zealand and the current campaign will form an integral plank in its visibility in the marketplace.

Maximising their close relationship with Emirates and their National carrier 'âœ Austrian, the ANTO will feature the many facets of Austria's broad tourism offer at high profile events in the region to deliver their campaign message.

A Report by international travel writer Kevin Moloney on location for TravelMole in Austria and Central Europe