Vilnius receives International Gold Award at WTM Travel Show in London for “G-spot of Europe” Ad Campaign
Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, wanted to attract more attention amongst Western Europe’s millennials and to invite them to experience all the city has to offer.
However, only 8% of the target audience in Berlin and London knew that Vilnius existed, let alone where it was. The city decided to go with a bold statement that earned the capital an International Travel & Tourism award.
„Vilnius – the G-spot of Europe. Nobody knows where it is, but when you find it – it’s amazing”
„Vilnius – the G-spot of Europe. Nobody knows where it is, but when you find it – it’s amazing” campaign was developed by Jurgis Ramanauskas, Skaistė Kaurynaitė, and Ugnius Mikšta. Posters advertising Vilnius appeared in London and Berlin in the summer of 2018. Since then, the website vilniusgspot.com was visited by over 100 thousand people from all over the world while the searches on Google trebled.
According to Vilnius’ Mayor Remigijus Šimašius, the campaign reached an audience of 600 million and the number of tourists increased by 12%. “We may be small globally but really strong!” he said in a brief announcement.
The reference to the elusive erogenous zone has raised hackles in the devoutly Catholic Baltic EU country of 2.9 million people.
Lithuania’s government had asked the city to postpone the campaign until after Pope Francis visits in late September, but the organizers refused, arguing that the advertising will end before the pontiff’s visit and is in no way associated with him.
“Those who are outraged are only showing that the campaign actually works, because it is making a fuss and provoking discussion,” advertisement co-creator Jurgis Ramanauskas said.
The city’s official tourism service Go Vilnius said the poster, created by Lithuanian advertising students, is aimed at people aged 18 to 35 and will only be displayed for a week.
The viral ad was since named as one of the best week’s campaigns by advertising industry magazine Lürzer’s Archive’, as well as earning a feature on ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.’
“International tourism is a highly competitive field where only a few manage to stand out,” says Inga Romanovskienė, the head of the official development and business promotion agency Go Vilnius. „Even competing with the giants of tourism – such as Las Vegas – was a great achievement.”
The Lithuanian capital attracted 210,000 visitors in the first three months of this year, a 7.5 per cent increase on the same period in 2017, according to Go Vilnius.
This year’s International Travel and Tourism Awards, where Vilnius won the highest Gold Award, took place in London’s annual World Travel Market, visited by over 50 thousand attendees. Vilnius the G-Spot of Europe
