The city of Vienna has great plans to use this year’s Eurovision Song Contest as a big promotional marketing item before the actual event kicks off in May.
“As the host city of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, Vienna wants the event to be a great feast for all its inhabitants and visitors. This is a unique opportunity to present ourselves as a modern, cosmopolitan city,” said Vienna’s City Councillor Christian Oxonitsch.
In this sense, considerable sums are being invested in the whole project. The city has already put aside 11.7 million euros for the Song Contest, of which 8.89 million euros are planned to go into preparation and operational works of the venue. Almost a million is set for expenditures in regard to the Opening Ceremony, the semi-final Allocation Draw and the Eurovillage at Rathausplatz. Included therein are also free public transport passes for some 3,000 journalists and artists.
Another 850,000 euros will be spent on promoting the city of Vienna in a Europe-wide campaign. This will include installing 22 meter high balls at prominent places in London, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin and Milan, in which 360-degree videos of Vienna will be shown.
One million will be given out for city branding. This will encompass advertising on public transport lines, as well as at the airport, on entrances to the city, and in printed and online media.
Nonetheless, the most important vehicle will be city-owned magazines. The city’s printing offices are already producing printed media at full speed. Even online channels, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are planned to be used in full capacity in the Eurovision month.
The Mayor of Vienna, Michael Häupl, has asked his City Councillors to take up on his promise – to fully commit to the city’s so-called “Twelve Points Plan.” This plan embraces the presentation of the cosmopolitan side of Vienna in twelve points, be it in music school and fashion school projects or in civil courage campaigns.
