Title	UNRATING ART
Brand	VIENNA TOURIST BOARD
Product/Service	VIENNA'S SIGHTS AND SCENERIES
Category	G05. Cultural Insight
Entrant	WIEN NORD SERVICEPLAN Vienna, AUSTRIA
Idea Creation	WIEN NORD SERVICEPLAN Vienna, AUSTRIA
Production	WIEN NORD SERVICEPLAN Vienna, AUSTRIA

Name	Company	Position
Edmund Hochleitner	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Chief Creative Officer
Christian Hellinger	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Creative Director
Christina Hosiner	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Art Director
Leopold Keczy	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Copywriter
Josephine Gasser	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Copywriter
Stefan Loeffler	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	DTP
Stefan Graf	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Account Manager
Carina Stoelzle	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Account Manager
Markus Mazuran	WIEN NORD Serviceplan	Account Manager

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

As a travel destination Vienna made a bold move in the age of social media by taking a stand against online ratings that have changed traveling over the past years and had a lasting impact on our holiday decisions. To promote the campaign, we have chosen one of the city’s most frequented tourism hot-spots, home to one of the world’s most famous art galleries. Our partner, the Leopold Museum, used its negative and often ridiculous online ratings to emphasize the importance of making your own decisions while traveling. The real write-ups were projected onto the museum’s facade.

Background

95% of holidaymakers check online rating portals such as TripAdvisor before traveling or while planning their trip. Top-ten-lists, must-see-lists and the sights with the highest score dominate these websites. This causes a homogenization of travel experiences because more and more visitors rely on the same reviews and scores and simply experience more of the same. Individual choices and experiences off the beaten path become rarer and places with lower scores struggle to attract new audiences. Vienna is a city that encourages visitors to make unique experiences and to not entrust anonymous online raters with choosing them for you. But how can the city provide individual moments and unique experiences, when visitors increasingly rely on the same top-ten-sights promoted by large online portals? So the Vienna Tourist Board decided to take on the “ratings mania” by making obvious how ridiculous and subjective online reviews can be.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

For the campaign we found an influential partner in the Viennese cultural scene: the Leopold Museum, one of the world’s leading modern art galleries. The museum’s worst – and often weirdest – real user reviews found on the web’s most prominent rating platforms were projected onto its huge facade– larger than life, for everyone to see. The museum is situated in one of the most frequented tourism hot-spots of the city with many restaurants and bars nearby. We created a memorable experience by linking one of the trendiest and most beautiful spots in Vienna to the absurdity of the ratings mania by projecting user-reviews downvoting the place for showing modern art, nude paintings or works mostly by Austrian artists.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The Vienna Tourist Board is constantly monitoring social trends among the city’s visitors and is in permanent exchange with the local travel industry. The growing influence and importance of rating portals such as TripAdvisor is noticeable on both sides. Vienna attracts a lot of visitors who stay only for a couple of days and want to get most out of their stay. So they consult top-ten-lists to cover the most important sights. But these places are not necessarily the ones that provide tourists with the most enjoyable experience. By simply following the highest ratings visitors are robbed of unique discoveries and a sense of exploration. Vienna was “breaking the algorithm” by demonstrating that not all ratings are reliable and helpful. Some of the most ridiculous, unqualified but real online ratings were projected on the facade of one of the most treasured art galleries of Vienna.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

The campaign was rolled out in Austria, Germany, Spain, France and the UK. Our digital ads were displayed in places ruled by ratings – on popular online platforms such as TripAdvisor or Amazon, bravely taking on the “rating giants” on their own territory. In Vienna, we looked for a cooperating partner to demonstrate the absurdity of ratings-mania by confronting people live with the gap between online rating score and the actual vibe and charm of a place. So we went to one of the most beautiful und popular spots in Vienna and brought visitors and locals face-to-face with the ridiculous side of ratings. The Leopold Museum agreed to have its most absurd real ratings projected onto its facade for everyone in the square to see. By emblazoning the walls with absurd write-ups, we demonstrated the courage of tourist attractions to stand up to the sometimes unfair algorithm of rating portals.

List the results (30% of vote)

The brand experience at the Leopold Museum was part of the international “Unrating Vienna” campaign, rolled out in 5 European countries. Thus the installation was covered by numerous international news outlets such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Daily Telegraph or The Washington Post that took it as a cue to discuss ratings, their validity and their growing influence on our travel choices. Media opinion leaders closely linked to the tourism industry like Monocle or Lonely Planet joined in on the conversation. Further acknowledgement came from within the tourism industry that greeted the broad spotlight on the double-edged reality of rating platforms with big approval. The museum itself supported the idea of questioning ratings – especially when it comes to highly subjective topics like rating artworks. Overall the campaign reached 275 million earned media impressions. The installation instigated a dialogue among target audiences at one of Vienna’s most frequented tourism hotspots.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

95% of holidaymakers check online rating portals such before traveling or while planning their trip. The influence and impact on the travel sector has been constantly growing. This causes a homogenization of travel experiences, more and more visitors rely on the same reviews and scores. Individual choices and experiences off the beaten path become rarer. Vienna is a city that encourages visitors to make unique experience. Top-ten-lists or must-see-tours are not necessarily the ones that provide tourists with the most enjoyable experience or with the most treasured memories. By simply following the highest scores on rating platforms tourists rob themselves of unique discoveries and a sense of exploration. So the Vienna Tourist Board decided to “break the algorithm” and take on the “ratings mania” by making obvious how ridiculous and subjective online reviews can be when they get in the way of unique impressions.