To inspire people to take a holiday in Austria we created an interactive augmented-reality tour of New York and Vienna in the company of Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven serves as the guide on an acoustic tour of New York (!) and Vienna that uses BOSE Frames with built-in speakers and the new #RelatedToAustria app.

The glasses are wearables which, together with the new #RelatedToAustria app for your iPhone, transform the city tour into an interactive experience by way of 3D speakers in the glasses’ temples. The app reacts to geodata, meaning you’ll hear the thoughts of this musical genius as though he were taking a stroll through New York and Vienna in the 21st Century if you approach one of these locations with the activated app and glasses.

The entertaining Audio AR guide provides information about the sights of Vienna and the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, with the 250th anniversary of his birth to be celebrated in 2020. In Vienna, the city which Beethoven chose to make his home, both visitors to the city and its residents can borrow the glasses from the tourist information office in Albertinaplatz as of now.

We use points of interest in New York as advertising vehicles for Vienna

In New York, the AR glasses are in use with the intention of inspiring people to take a holiday in Austria. The #RelatedToAustria app is directing people there to different locations with a Viennese connection, for example, to a Viennese café in the centre of the Big Apple. Ludwig van Beethoven conducts the city tour, while establishing links to Austria in a lively manner. Until the end of the year 2019 the user in New York can win a stay in the beautiful Hotel Palais Hansen Kempinski! In this way, New York sights such as Carnegie Hall are transformed into an advertising vehicle for Vienna. The entire city tour lasts about one hour.

An interactive tour in the company of Beethoven

On site in Vienna, the city which Beethoven chose to make his home, the public is discovering locations at which the legendary musical figure left his mark: the composer takes us to the Palais Lobkowitz and to the Theater an der Wien, The Viennese State Opera and the Bösendorfer Salon in the Musikverein are also a part of the city-walk. The entire city tour lasts about one hour. Last but not least we offer a free coffee for every user in Vienna.

“After the SXSW 2018 and 2019 I strongly believe in an audio-first approach to augmented reality. Because we have known for thousands of years how to see and hear at the same time.” 

Our innovation team in the Austrian National Tourist Office has already worked for a long time with voice assistants and audio content as part of its campaigns, for instance, the Alexa skill entitled “Tastes of Austria”. Current technological developments in the field of Augmented Reality (AR) and audio content are opening up completely new communication channels in marketing. Consequently, wearables such as Bose Frames offer interesting platforms for the production and transmission of inspirational content.

For iOS, the #RelatedToAustria – An Audio AR Walk through Vienna app can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

I’m proud our team’s project was worth to be mentioned in the New York Times: Link  

More information on #RelatedToAustria can be found here.

How the interactive walk through Vienna works:

1. Install the #RelatedToAustria app on your iPhone (a version for Android is not available currently) here.
2. Borrow some Bose Frames for free in the Viennese tourist information office on Albertinaplatz (Google Maps) and pair them with your iPhone. The app works with normal headphones as well, but with limited sound experience and without gesture UX.
3. Allow Ludwig van Beethoven to guide you through Vienna and enjoy a free coffee in the Hotel Palais Hansen Kempinski using the given codeword.

City tour locations in New York (duration: about one hour):

·      BOSE Showcase Store

·      Aldo Sohm Wine Bar

·      Carnegie Hall

·      Alexander Hamilton Monument

·      Café Sabarsky

City tour locations in Vienna (duration: about one hour):

·      Palais Lobkowitz

·      The State Opera

·      Theater an der Wien

·      Musikverein (Bösendorfer Salon)

·      Hotel Palais Hansen Kempinski (including a free coffee if you use the app in Vienna to get the code)

Thx for the partnership to the Vienna Tourist Board (WienTourismus), for the great developement by SpeedUup, the awesome copy and sound by Raven & Finch, the strategic advice by Vizeum Germany and the love and spirit by Hotel Palais Hansen Kempinski!

And of course, it’s a pleasure to work with colleagues like Matthias Dengg and his awesome SpeedUup team (made with ❤️ in Tyrol), Sound artist ♫ and copywriter Max Kickinger (Raven & Finch), the experts from Vizeum Germany Karin Libowitzky, Joachim Kohl and Gyro, our tourism experts in NY: Michael Gigl, Eva Schmiedleitner and Marsa Kindl-Omuse, our great innovation & campaign team Lisa Dorfner, Alexander Kunz, Wolfgang Mair, Daniela Ressel, Bea Walcher, Petra Auer, Christoph Glöckel, Julia Holzer and our best boss Michael Scheuch, Amira Badi for spreading the spirit, to best host Florian Wille and the gorgeous team from Hotel Palais Hansen Kempinski in Vienna and Alexander Rinke, Julia Jakoubek, Verena Hable from wien.info

#AR #Vienna #BoseAR #SXSW #feelAustria #RelatedToAustria #AugmentedReality #AudioAR