Positioning Campaign

The Positioning Campaign, as has already been noted, emphasized the differences between Linz and other Culture Capitals as well as those that set it apart from other cities in Austria. The second Programme Book in May 2008, in which Linz09 was already able to introduce more than 90 % of all projects in detail and to illustrate the change that Linz was undergoing in words and pictures, featured for the first time Linz’s new slogan, “Linz.verändert,” (Say Linz. Say change), which will be retained as part of Linz’s visiting card after 2009.

This phase was shaped in particular by a two-minute image film and the airing of a 25-second TV spot. Press relations were dominated by press conferences abroad and by the organisation of press trips. The exhibitions TIEFENRAUSCH and “KULTURHAUPTSTADT DES FÜHRERS” [The Fuehrer’s Capital of Culture] lent additional force to the positioning campaign in terms of content. A quarterly media supplement, entitled “Linz.Verändert,”, was produced in collaboration with Tourist Board Linz (TVL) from November 2009 for distribution in Austria and in southern Bavaria. Linz09 put in major appearances at trade fairs, the EU Parliament and in Austrian embassies on the occasion of Austria’s National Day. Promotional activities were gradually being stepped up. Hubert von Goisern’s LINZ EUROPA TOUR WEST, the architecture biennale in Venice, which featured exhibits referring to PIXEL HOTEL, and Art Basel were landmark events that provided ample opportunity for targeted Linz09 PR activities. In Austria Steirischer Herbst was made use of to promote the exhibition LINZ TEXAS in Graz. “Linz. Verändert,” became an integral part of every ad. The key pictorial motif of that period was the “fried egg”; it established in a tongue in cheek way the nutrient-rich egg yolk as one of the dominant metaphors for Linz.

An important step in the positioning of Linz09 was its german Wikipedia entry. After first attempts in summer 2008 had led nowhere, the powerful media echo in January in conjunction with efforts from within the Wikipedia community, which was beginning to take an increasingly favourable view of culture capitals, made it possible to place an entry in Wikipedia. This has practical consequences for culture capitals in future as Wikipedia is now set to feature them without further ado.

Linz09-Commercial

Director: Harald Sicheritz
Actor: Andreas Puehringer

Linz09-Imagefilm

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