The Wirz Sonata for Lucerne
Cultural marketing The Lucerne Festival wants to take advantage of the opportunities offered by brand expansion by introducing new concert cycles. The artistic directors and Wirz are concentrating their communication efforts on the umbrella brand.
Cultural marketing The Lucerne Festival wants to exploit the opportunities of brand expansion by introducing new concert cycles. It was on the eve of the Second World War: the artistic and cultural elite of half of Europe had found refuge from the brown terror in Switzerland. When Arturo Toscanini, director of the NBC Orchestra - himself a fugitive from fascist Italy - conducted his "Concert de Gala" in front of Wagner's former residence on Tribschen, he laid the foundation stone for the Lucerne Festival in 1938. His concert made history and set the standards for a globally recognized, historically grown musical institution. It has made (and continues to make) a significant contribution to the image and popularity of the picturesque region on Lake Lucerne and, as a result, keeps the cash register ringing.
The Swiss Festival Orchestra and famous guest orchestras - from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Vienna Philharmonic - as well as star conductors from Otto Klemperer to Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado continued the success story in the following decades. After a ten-year break, the latter reestablished the festival's own orchestra, which he will conduct for the first time this year.
It comes as no surprise that the event, now known as the Lucerne Festival, is seizing the opportunity and harnessing the darling of critics and audiences, Abbado, as an image-boosting driving force. Thanks to the star conductor and his new ensemble, Artistic Director Michael Haefliger has less to worry about in terms of audience numbers than he does about revitalizing and rebranding the expanded Lucerne Festival. According to initial estimates, the traditionally well-heeled audience remains loyal to the festival even in economically difficult times.
"Generally speaking, there are no signs that we will suffer a major slump. I think we will be able to maintain last year's result," says Haefliger. This in turn would mean an occupancy rate for the concerts of between 80 and 85 percent - which would mean well over 100,000 visitors flocking to the city of lights. It is too early to give a reason for this forecast, says Haefliger. He sees the festival program, which is sent out to 24,000 addresses, as well as advertisements and posters, which quickly boost ticket sales, as the most important factors. The stronger media presence abroad - this year increasingly in northern Italy, England, Japan and the USA - was also rewarded with a veritable booking boom (+360 percent) in 2002.
Haefliger, the festival's artistic director since 1999, has made a significant contribution to the festival's stronger positioning. In an interview, he explained the great popularity with audiences with the concept of networking and the fact that "communication and marketing are important in order to sell difficult works - as in the retail trade". With his economic understanding of the festival and the expertise of his friend Hans Ulrich Schweizer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wirz Werbung, the conditions for repositioning the Lucerne Festival umbrella brand were ideal.
This was also necessary: the diversification strategy - intensified concert cycles and the "Piano" classical and jazz festival with films, workshops and exhibitions - should also contribute to strengthening the core brand with a transfer of goodwill from the established brand to the extension products.
Although the more recent Festwochen events fit coherently into the emotional prestige and traditional image of the established festival, "the previous appearance consisted of individual posters that advertised each festival on its own," says Wirz CD Hanspeter Schweizer. In addition, certain motifs such as the David Hockney-style grand piano had been used for years, so that the image threatened to gather dust.
Supraregional seal of quality
Now the three festivals are to be brought closer to the umbrella brand. A single leitmotif was to emerge from the three different advertising motifs. The aim was to present the contemporary, the festival theme and the roots in the world of classical music in the same euphony. The Lucerne Festival brand should also act as a seal of quality for the new events beyond the region.
Together with Zurich artist Max Grüter, poster motifs were developed with the courage to be freely realized, which, despite their formal bracketing function, symbolically implement each of the three festivals in an unusual and independent way. From the broad pool of associations, globally quickly decodable subjects emerged, which should also appeal to younger festival visitors in addition to the regular audience (60 percent of the audience). "We wanted to convey openness, not the image of an exclusive circle," says Schweizer.
Globally decodable subjects for the new Lucerne campaign from Wirz Werbung.
Lucerne Festival as an economic factorAn analysis of the 2000 Summer Festival carried out by the University of St.Gallen revealed some surprising results: The festival generated
in the city and agglomeration of Lucerne generated income of 18 million francs. Together with the "Easter" and "Piano" festivals, this amounted to a total of over 30 million francs - not including the immaterial contribution to Lucerne's image and name recognition. In an international comparison, this result stands out because public subsidies amount to just 2.6 percent of the budget. Converted, one "subsidy franc" results in 215 francs of economic income for Lucerne. (la)
Luca Aloisi
The Swiss Festival Orchestra and famous guest orchestras - from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Vienna Philharmonic - as well as star conductors from Otto Klemperer to Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado continued the success story in the following decades. After a ten-year break, the latter reestablished the festival's own orchestra, which he will conduct for the first time this year.
It comes as no surprise that the event, now known as the Lucerne Festival, is seizing the opportunity and harnessing the darling of critics and audiences, Abbado, as an image-boosting driving force. Thanks to the star conductor and his new ensemble, Artistic Director Michael Haefliger has less to worry about in terms of audience numbers than he does about revitalizing and rebranding the expanded Lucerne Festival. According to initial estimates, the traditionally well-heeled audience remains loyal to the festival even in economically difficult times.
"Generally speaking, there are no signs that we will suffer a major slump. I think we will be able to maintain last year's result," says Haefliger. This in turn would mean an occupancy rate for the concerts of between 80 and 85 percent - which would mean well over 100,000 visitors flocking to the city of lights. It is too early to give a reason for this forecast, says Haefliger. He sees the festival program, which is sent out to 24,000 addresses, as well as advertisements and posters, which quickly boost ticket sales, as the most important factors. The stronger media presence abroad - this year increasingly in northern Italy, England, Japan and the USA - was also rewarded with a veritable booking boom (+360 percent) in 2002.
Haefliger, the festival's artistic director since 1999, has made a significant contribution to the festival's stronger positioning. In an interview, he explained the great popularity with audiences with the concept of networking and the fact that "communication and marketing are important in order to sell difficult works - as in the retail trade". With his economic understanding of the festival and the expertise of his friend Hans Ulrich Schweizer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wirz Werbung, the conditions for repositioning the Lucerne Festival umbrella brand were ideal.
This was also necessary: the diversification strategy - intensified concert cycles and the "Piano" classical and jazz festival with films, workshops and exhibitions - should also contribute to strengthening the core brand with a transfer of goodwill from the established brand to the extension products.
Although the more recent Festwochen events fit coherently into the emotional prestige and traditional image of the established festival, "the previous appearance consisted of individual posters that advertised each festival on its own," says Wirz CD Hanspeter Schweizer. In addition, certain motifs such as the David Hockney-style grand piano had been used for years, so that the image threatened to gather dust.
Supraregional seal of quality
Now the three festivals are to be brought closer to the umbrella brand. A single leitmotif was to emerge from the three different advertising motifs. The aim was to present the contemporary, the festival theme and the roots in the world of classical music in the same euphony. The Lucerne Festival brand should also act as a seal of quality for the new events beyond the region.
Together with Zurich artist Max Grüter, poster motifs were developed with the courage to be freely realized, which, despite their formal bracketing function, symbolically implement each of the three festivals in an unusual and independent way. From the broad pool of associations, globally quickly decodable subjects emerged, which should also appeal to younger festival visitors in addition to the regular audience (60 percent of the audience). "We wanted to convey openness, not the image of an exclusive circle," says Schweizer.
Globally decodable subjects for the new Lucerne campaign from Wirz Werbung.
Lucerne Festival as an economic factorAn analysis of the 2000 Summer Festival carried out by the University of St.Gallen revealed some surprising results: The festival generated
in the city and agglomeration of Lucerne generated income of 18 million francs. Together with the "Easter" and "Piano" festivals, this amounted to a total of over 30 million francs - not including the immaterial contribution to Lucerne's image and name recognition. In an international comparison, this result stands out because public subsidies amount to just 2.6 percent of the budget. Converted, one "subsidy franc" results in 215 francs of economic income for Lucerne. (la)
Luca Aloisi
