In 1865, Franz Xaver Winterhalter painted Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s most famous portrait. Cementing the myth of Sisi as nothing more than a beautiful woman in luxurious dresses with beautiful hair. In 2023, the world became obsessed with her again, through films and Netflix shows. But even 125 years after her death, the world focused only on Sisi’s beauty, looks, excesses and supposed depression. The real sisi? Lost behind the image.

It was time for a new portrayal of Sisi. On international women’s day,

we covered the world famous Sisi portrait everywhere in Vienna with a new portrait. A minimalistic poem. No image, drama or beauty. Showing nothing but facts that had gotten forgotten.

Insight:

125 after her death, people still look at Sisi and only see her beauty, her hair, her dresses.

Key message:

Let’s remember women for who they are. Not for what they look like.

Target audience:

25-45 year females willing to travel

Creation and distribution of assets:

A minimalistic poem as a never before seen portrait. To change the conversation.

We covered every Sisi portrait in Vienna with a minimalistic poem. Written in the style that Sisi loved to write poems, we broke down Sisi’s image and focused on noting some amazing facts that have gotten lost behind Sisi’s image.

The simple move gained traction immediately. The campaign became

#1 advertising campaign in Japanese media. It was covered in over 34 countries and reached more than 58 m people. Starting a global discussion on how we remember powerful women.