SalzburgerLand - New Campaign With Marcel Hirscher

"We are the winter generation": With this message, the SalzburgerLand makes you want to go on a winter holiday in the 2022/23 season.

The campaign was presented on Thursday evening at an atmospheric event in a pre-winter atmosphere. "Title hero" is the Salzburg skiing legend Marcel Hirscher.

Numerous prominent representatives from politics, business and tourism met at the Latschenwirt in Großgmain near the city of Salzburg on Thursday evening to open the 2022/23 winter season. After all, the past two years have been marked by the sometimes massive restrictions caused by the pandemic. Fortunately, the recovery came quickly: in summer, which is already back to the level of 2019, as current tourism statistics show, but also in winter.

Winter holidays in SalzburgerLand are still in high demand

After the lockdown-related late start to the past season (from the end of November until just before Christmas), it later became apparent that the Salzburg winter sports resorts and their offerings are still in great demand. After all, 75 percent of the pre-crisis level was still reached in the 2021/22 season. "That makes us very confident for the upcoming winter and shows the touristic competitiveness of the city and state of Salzburg," said the Salzburg State Sports Councilor Stefan Schnöll. "Alpine skiing is an integral part of the history and of the sporting and economic development of our state. Our regions live winter sports and have always proven to be very good hosts.”

Although the tourism industry is still confronted with major challenges such as the energy crisis, inflation or the Ukraine war, you can see right now how much people are longing for a break again, adds Leo Bauernberger, Managing Director of the SalzburgerLand Tourismus Gesellschaft (SLTG): " For our guests, winter holidays with the family and exercise in the alpine nature are a welcome and longed-for change from the news that is omnipresent in everyday life.”

World Championships in Saalbach: next milestone in Salzburg's skiing history

SalzburgerLand is internationally recognized as a winter sports region, and decades of expertise in this area characterize the positive image of the region. "The next milestone in Salzburg's ski history is imminent - the Ski World Championships 2025. We are looking forward to a successful and exciting major event and hope to be able to inspire all generations even more for winter sports."

The face of the World Cup application is Bartl Gensbichler, who is already looking forward to atmospheric title fights: “The pictures from Saalbach, the enthusiasm for skiing in SalzburgerLand will go around the world. In 1991 we already experienced world championships that were absolutely worth remembering - we are really looking forward to being able to present ourselves again almost 35 years later as a top organizer and ski area of ​​the highest quality".

Inspire the next generation to ski

In his function as President of the Salzburg State Ski Association, it is also important to Gensbichler to inspire a new generation for alpine skiing. “We need the next generation on the slopes. It's also about the future of Austria as a winter sports country.” Gensbichler is therefore also convinced that school ski courses should be made compulsory again. "Without the ski courses, hundreds of thousands of children and young people would never have skied and would have discovered their passion for skiing."

Support for this also comes from Salzburg state politics. Schnöll: "As a state councilor for sports, it is particularly important to me to offer good and inexpensive offers for children and young people in order to create opportunities for families that are as low-threshold as possible."

New SalzburgerLand campaign "Generation Winter"

The new winter campaign of the SalzburgerLand Tourismus Gesellschaft (SLTG), which was officially presented on Thursday, is also about the passion that has been passed on in SalzburgerLand for generations. The title hero is skiing legend Marcel Hirscher. "Marcel is a perfect and authentic ambassador for us and a real identification figure. He embodies like no other this special passion that has brought him from the self-trodden slope on the slope behind his parents' house in Annaberg-Lungötz to double Olympic champion, five-time individual world champion and eight-time overall World Cup winner," says SLTG Managing Director Leo Bauernberger.

Marcel Hirscher as the perfect campaign ambassador

Hirscher himself didn't have to think long when he received the request to participate in the new SalzburgerLand winter campaign. "During my career I've been on the road a lot and I just feel at home in SalzburgerLand. It is therefore very clear to me that I want to show the beauty of my homeland to others. In addition, I can really identify with the campaign, because I like being out and about in the region myself," says Hirscher, who enthuses: "The combination of hospitality and perfectly developed infrastructure is outstanding within the Alpine region. With this overall package, SalzburgerLand is a model region for the entire ski world.”

Positive signal in challenging times

The message of the campaign is deliberately positive: "We see the 'Generation Winter' as a community that stretches across all generations," says SLTG Managing Director Leo Bauernberger. “Winter sports are in our DNA. It doesn't matter whether Generation X, Y or Z: In SalzburgerLand we share a passion - and of course that also with our guests."

The campaign also has great potential to tell emotional stories. “With the 'Generation Winter' we are undertaking a journey through time into the history of winter sports in Salzburg, but we are also drawing a link to the present and to the masterminds of winter sports of the future. There are so many personalities who live in their own way for and with the winter in SalzburgerLand and we want to bring them in front of the curtain.

Salzburg regional partners reinforce the campaign

Numerous tourist regions have once again joined the SalzburgerLand campaign. In addition to the “Generation Winter” image spot, there are ten-second tandem spots presenting the Obertauern, Zell am See-Kaprun, Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn, Gastein, Lungau and Dachstein West holiday regions and the Hohe Tauern National Park holiday region. "In addition, the communication of climate-friendly travel offers is very important to us, which is why there will also be tandem spots for our mobility partners Deutsche Bahn and ÖBB in the respective markets," says SLTG Managing Director Bauernberger.

Campaign highlights in the most important markets

After the official presentation, the big campaign rollout will take place next week. From Monday, October 17, the TV spot can be seen in the most important markets of Germany and Austria, with a first highlight around the Ski World Cup opening in Sölden on the following weekend.

Other regions and tourism providers are on board with the extensive marketing activities in the most important European markets. For example, SLTG is planning an attention-grabbing out-of-home offensive with campaign branding at major train stations and public transport hubs – including in Vienna, Munich, Cologne and Düsseldorf.

The highlight of the winter application in the Netherlands is a radio campaign with the popular station Radio10. The campaign in the Central European local market of the Czech Republic also specializes in radio channels, but also, among other things, in advertising in cinemas and on digital LED panels. In England and Ireland, in addition to high-quality media cooperation, events with tour operator and airline partners also attract attention. In Sweden and Denmark, a digital out-of-home campaign is planned in busy squares in the major cities of both countries. The measures in all markets are of course flanked by extensive online campaigns.