95% of holidaymakers check online rating portals such as TripAdvisor before traveling or while planning their trip. Top-ten-lists, must-see-lists and the sights with the highest score dominate these websites. This causes a homogenization of travel experiences because more and more visitors rely on the same reviews and scores and simply experience more of the same. Individual choices and experiences off the beaten path become rarer and places with lower scores struggle to attract new audiences. Vienna is a city that encourages visitors to make unique experiences and to not entrust anonymous online raters with choosing them for you. But how can the city provide individual moments and unique experiences, when visitors increasingly rely on the same top-ten-sights promoted by large online portals? So the Vienna Tourist Board decided to take on the “ratings mania” by making obvious how ridiculous and subjective online reviews can be.

For the campaign we found an influential partner in the Viennese cultural scene: the Leopold Museum, one of the world’s leading modern art galleries. The museum’s worst – and often weirdest – real user reviews found on the web’s most prominent rating platforms were projected onto its huge facade– larger than life, for everyone to see. The museum is situated in one of the most frequented tourism hot-spots of the city with many restaurants and bars nearby. We created a memorable experience by linking one of the trendiest and most beautiful spots in Vienna to the absurdity of the ratings mania by projecting user-reviews downvoting the place for showing modern art, nude paintings or works mostly by Austrian artists.

The Vienna Tourist Board is constantly monitoring social trends among the city’s visitors and is in permanent exchange with the local travel industry. The growing influence and importance of rating portals such as TripAdvisor is noticeable on both sides. Vienna attracts a lot of visitors who stay only for a couple of days and want to get most out of their stay. So they consult top-ten-lists to cover the most important sights. But these places are not necessarily the ones that provide tourists with the most enjoyable experience. By simply following the highest ratings visitors are robbed of unique discoveries and a sense of exploration. Vienna was “breaking the algorithm” by demonstrating that not all ratings are reliable and helpful. Some of the most ridiculous, unqualified but real online ratings were projected on the facade of one of the most treasured art galleries of Vienna.

The campaign was rolled out in Austria, Germany, Spain, France and the UK. Our digital ads were displayed in places ruled by ratings – on popular online platforms such as TripAdvisor or Amazon, bravely taking on the “rating giants” on their own territory. In Vienna, we looked for a cooperating partner to demonstrate the absurdity of ratings-mania by confronting people live with the gap between online rating score and the actual vibe and charm of a place. So we went to one of the most beautiful und popular spots in Vienna and brought visitors and locals face-to-face with the ridiculous side of ratings. The Leopold Museum agreed to have its most absurd real ratings projected onto its facade for everyone in the square to see. By emblazoning the walls with absurd write-ups, we demonstrated the courage of tourist attractions to stand up to the sometimes unfair algorithm of rating portals.

The brand experience at the Leopold Museum was part of the international “Unrating Vienna” campaign, rolled out in 5 European countries. Thus the installation was covered by numerous international news outlets such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Daily Telegraph or The Washington Post that took it as a cue to discuss ratings, their validity and their growing influence on our travel choices. Media opinion leaders closely linked to the tourism industry like Monocle or Lonely Planet joined in on the conversation. Further acknowledgement came from within the tourism industry that greeted the broad spotlight on the double-edged reality of rating platforms with big approval. The museum itself supported the idea of questioning ratings – especially when it comes to highly subjective topics like rating artworks. Overall the campaign reached 275 million earned media impressions. The installation instigated a dialogue among target audiences at one of Vienna’s most frequented tourism hotspots.