Christo with the ibexes
The Rhaetian Railway has landed a spectacular advertising coup with the wrapping of the famous Landwasser Viaduct, which is currently being currently being renovated, has landed a spectacular advertising coup.
No photos" proclaimed a banner high up on the bright red Landwasser viaduct. A cabaret artist dressed up as a construction worker with a helmet made sure that the assembled media people deep down at Landwasser did not take any photos of the eye-catcher. A gag that was part of the staging. A short time later, dozens of cameras were clicking away and even a mini helicopter equipped with a camera was circling around the alienated structure. The Rhaetian Railway (RhB) pulled off a theatrical advertising coup by wrapping its most-photographed monument. The brilliant idea was hatched by a small team consisting of Reto Wilhelm from the PR agency Panta rhei and the Alpine Railway's marketing professionals.
"Construction sites are actually a nuisance," explains Peider Härtli, RhB media spokesman, "but we're making an event out of it." The renovation work on the elegantly curved Landwasser Viaduct, which was completed in 1902 and leads into a tunnel, will continue into November at a cost of five million francs. The much-admired bridge cost 280,000 francs at the time, several million in today's purchasing power. But unlike modern concrete structures, which often crumble after just a few decades and have to be completely renovated or even replaced, this masterpiece has held up remarkably well to this day. What now stands in the wild landscape, covered up for a few months as a monumental advertising stunt, is structurally protected from the ingress of water, the main enemy of such bridges. The track trough and the mortar between the natural limestone dolomite stones of the 65-metre-high and 142-metre-long viaduct are being restored: a gentle renovation worthy of the structure's status.
Accompanying advertising campaigns
The Albula line, recently ennobled by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, is the right place for a campaign that would do credit to the packaging artist Christo. Red is not just any color for the RhB, but has always been the visual hallmark of carriages and locomotives, which, of course, have recently also attracted attention with advertising paint for companies such as Ems Chemie or Swisscanto. Japanese or Indians who jet halfway around the world to take pictures of the Landwasser Viaduct may be disappointed by the camouflage. But the marketing communications department, headed by local Vera Stiffler, has taken precautions. In the Regio Express trains and the Glacier Express, which runs from St. Moritz to Zermatt via the Albula line, there are colorful leaflets with information about the history of the monument and postcards with the uncovered crossing so that guests can send a card greeting with the "Landwasser Viaduct nature". "But we are doing a lot more to arouse interest," explains Vera Stiffler. "Since the start of renovation work in mid-March, we have been monitoring the progress of construction with a webcam (www.rhb.ch) every minute. Within a few weeks, thousands have logged in, and the number is growing all the time." A competition for amateur photographers (www.rhb.ch/fotowettbewerb) rounds off the electronic promotion. The best pictures of the altered Landwasser viaduct and the Albula line will be published and prizes awarded.
Great response
The Rhaetian Railway is not commenting on the cost of the spectacular advertising campaign, but the response will justify the expense by far. Already on the day of the event, SF DRS reported in "10 vor 10" as well as private TV stations, and the next day the bright red wrapped viaduct in the midst of rocks, forests and sugared mountain peaks greeted many Swiss newspapers and some foreign papers.
By the time the renovation is completed and the unveiling takes place in late fall, around one million passengers will - for technical reasons - glide slowly over the viaduct, 200,000 of them on the panoramic trains of the Glacier and Bernina Express alone. "It's not just the train passengers who will have an exclusive experience thanks to the wrapping," says press spokesman Härtli, "the red-wrapped bridge will also encourage motorists on the cantonal road between Alvaneu and Filisur and the many hikers to travel by train." And thus further increase the number of visitors to the Unesco World Heritage Site in the ibex territory.
Werner Catrina (text and pictures)
"Construction sites are actually a nuisance," explains Peider Härtli, RhB media spokesman, "but we're making an event out of it." The renovation work on the elegantly curved Landwasser Viaduct, which was completed in 1902 and leads into a tunnel, will continue into November at a cost of five million francs. The much-admired bridge cost 280,000 francs at the time, several million in today's purchasing power. But unlike modern concrete structures, which often crumble after just a few decades and have to be completely renovated or even replaced, this masterpiece has held up remarkably well to this day. What now stands in the wild landscape, covered up for a few months as a monumental advertising stunt, is structurally protected from the ingress of water, the main enemy of such bridges. The track trough and the mortar between the natural limestone dolomite stones of the 65-metre-high and 142-metre-long viaduct are being restored: a gentle renovation worthy of the structure's status.
Accompanying advertising campaigns
The Albula line, recently ennobled by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, is the right place for a campaign that would do credit to the packaging artist Christo. Red is not just any color for the RhB, but has always been the visual hallmark of carriages and locomotives, which, of course, have recently also attracted attention with advertising paint for companies such as Ems Chemie or Swisscanto. Japanese or Indians who jet halfway around the world to take pictures of the Landwasser Viaduct may be disappointed by the camouflage. But the marketing communications department, headed by local Vera Stiffler, has taken precautions. In the Regio Express trains and the Glacier Express, which runs from St. Moritz to Zermatt via the Albula line, there are colorful leaflets with information about the history of the monument and postcards with the uncovered crossing so that guests can send a card greeting with the "Landwasser Viaduct nature". "But we are doing a lot more to arouse interest," explains Vera Stiffler. "Since the start of renovation work in mid-March, we have been monitoring the progress of construction with a webcam (www.rhb.ch) every minute. Within a few weeks, thousands have logged in, and the number is growing all the time." A competition for amateur photographers (www.rhb.ch/fotowettbewerb) rounds off the electronic promotion. The best pictures of the altered Landwasser viaduct and the Albula line will be published and prizes awarded.
Great response
The Rhaetian Railway is not commenting on the cost of the spectacular advertising campaign, but the response will justify the expense by far. Already on the day of the event, SF DRS reported in "10 vor 10" as well as private TV stations, and the next day the bright red wrapped viaduct in the midst of rocks, forests and sugared mountain peaks greeted many Swiss newspapers and some foreign papers.
By the time the renovation is completed and the unveiling takes place in late fall, around one million passengers will - for technical reasons - glide slowly over the viaduct, 200,000 of them on the panoramic trains of the Glacier and Bernina Express alone. "It's not just the train passengers who will have an exclusive experience thanks to the wrapping," says press spokesman Härtli, "the red-wrapped bridge will also encourage motorists on the cantonal road between Alvaneu and Filisur and the many hikers to travel by train." And thus further increase the number of visitors to the Unesco World Heritage Site in the ibex territory.
Werner Catrina (text and pictures)
