“Expectations vs Reality”, the new tourism promotion campaign of Go Vilnius, breaks stereotypes about the Lithuanian capital, according to its organisers. However, the campaign has already come under fire.
Vilnius’ business development and tourism agency Go Vilnius, which is famous for its bold advertising campaigns, such as “Vilnius – the G Spot of Europe”, presented the new campaign on Thursday. After promising yet another sensation before the launch event, the agency made good on its promise.
The campaign video has two parts. The first part, according to its creators, parodies the stereotype of a “former Soviet country” – it shows the Vilnius residents drinking by the dumpster or even urinating on the wall of a wooden hut. After this very distant depiction of Vilnius, the second part of the video shows a real, modern Vilnius, full of culture, greenery, and gastronomic experiences, according to Go Vilnius.
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Slap in the face
Artist Algis Kriščiūnas agrees with the fiercest critics of the Go Vilnius campaign. In his opinion, it presents Vilnius as a “rubbish province of Russia”, which is appalling after 30 years of independence. “The idea itself is banal, and everything is done terribly,” he told LRT.lt.
“Most of the video is watching the horror that they present as Vilnius. Before you’ve even finished it, you want to turn it off and think what the hell is this Vilnius? That could be the end of the video because that’s the impression it leaves. And then at the end, they play some brain-busting metal music and show banal promotional images that do not make up for what was shown at the beginning,” Kriščiūnas said.
According to him, the video resembles the work of a ninth grader, not a project of an agency representing the city.
“When you watch the clip, you think, yes, Vilnius may look like a Western city from the drone, but when you go down, thugs and alcoholics are waiting for us by the dumpsters,” the artist said.
This view is echoed by Simonas Rudaminas, a project manager at Global Lithuania, who called the new Go Vilnius promotional video “a presentation of Vilnius as a derelict, thug-filled city”.
In his view, the intention to break stereotypes has backfired, as the campaign only reinforces the myths that already exist in the West.
“They made a comment that we are still seen as an Eastern European country, and that advertisement itself comes across as confirmation. We have spent half a million euros to confirm that thugs live in Lithuania. It is still possible to stop this campaign,” Rudaminas said.
According to him, the campaign is a huge disgrace for the whole country. Moreover, it is like a slap in the face to him as someone who has been working for a decade to promote Lithuania abroad.
Emotional reaction
Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė, who has been working in advertising for over a decade, said that the campaign reception in Lithuania was too emotional.
In her view, advertising should be assessed objectively, taking into account the fact that such campaigns are created following a great deal of research on their purpose and audience.
Following the criticism, LRT.lt had also contacted the representatives of Go Vilnius. According to them, the positive results of the campaign are already visible.
“The success of a marketing campaign is measured in terms of the goals achieved. It is too early to assess them, as the campaign will start in the UK and Germany on April 8, but we can already see positive results. On the first day, the video received more than 400,000 views on various social media platforms,” said Dovilė Aleksandravičienė, head of Go Vilnius.
She stressed that the fiercely criticised video is only one part of the campaign, which will also include shorter videos, banners, and outdoor advertising.
“In the first few seconds, a viewer, who knows nothing about Vilnius, should realise from the absurdity that the city is very different from this ‘parody’ version. No tourist agency would dare to promote a place as a satire if it was close to reality. We aim to arouse people’s curiosity and encourage them to find out more about a city they know little about,” Aleksandravičienė stressed.
Asked how she reacts to criticism, the head of Go Vilnius said that different reactions are normal and understandable.
“Of course, every resident and visitor finds Vilnius to be cosy and wants to see it advertised as such. However, the vast majority of tourism advertisements show cities and countries as beautiful and cosy places. If we were to advertise the city in this way, Vilnius would simply drown and go unnoticed,” she said.
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