With the new corporate design in the style of a fashion brand, Kitzbühel Tourismus sets standards in alpine destination marketing. The realignment not only underlines the right to a pioneering role, but also marks a milestone in the long -term brand strategy.
#Wirsindkitzbühel – strategically together on course towards the future
Since the start of the brand formation process initiated by Kitzbühel Tourismus in 2021, a lot has developed in a common direction in the region. A central result: The success patterns developed in numerous workshops have been successfully integrated into Kitzbühel Tourism’s strategy and today shape product development such as organizational structure.
Cooperations in the areas Outdoor Active, Culinary Delights, Inspiring Networks and Workation drive the vision of a future -proof tourism destination.
For Dr. Viktoria Veider-Walser, managing director of Kitzbühel Tourismus, was a consistent step in strategic development on June 20, 2024: “With the new brand appearance, we opened a new chapter in our communication strategy on site. According to our brand Identity, we also want to appear courageous, clear and future -oriented in communication.
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Brand-relaunch as a strategic restart
Numerous surveys, workshops and discussions in the context of the brand formation process made it clear: the Kitzbühel brand was getting old. In order to remain innovative and competitive in the future, the board, the supervisory board and management-after examining several concepts-decided unanimously for the brand relaunch, which was implemented in 2024.
The new appearance was initiated in early June 2024 with a multi-stage teaser campaign. Under the motto “Something New Is Coming”, a deliberately mysterious message attracted attention – with locals as well as guests and industry insiders. Branded out-of-home areas in and around Kitzbühel, advertisements, newsletters and the first video snippets on social media announced the upcoming change.
An evening full of emotion, a night full of energy – and a morning on which Kitzbühel woke up in new strength
A date with symbolic power: on June 20, 2024, for the summer solstice – the astronomical highlight of the summer – Kitzbühel not only celebrated light and tradition, but also a brave new beginning. In the heart of the city, the brand-relaunch was staged with an impressive event.
More than 500 invited guests poured into the construction site of the legendary hotel to the Tenne – a place in change, like the brand itself. The parallel was wanted: Kitzbühel Tourism and the Tenne, both in transformation, symbolically met at the peak of a new era.
Under the moderation of Arabella Kiesbauer, chairman Dr. Christian Harisch the new brand appearance – powerful, modern, confident. Rosi Schipflinger delivered emotional highlights with a remixed version of her classic “Kitzbühel, my eye star”, who musically summed up the motto of the evening “From Tradition to Transition”. Together with DJ Marvin Aloys, she brought the energy of the new Kitzbühel to the stage.
But the real spectacle took place overnight.
While the hotel was celebrated, Kitzbühel Tourismus employees and numerous committed helpers in the background started an unprecedented guerrilla campaign: the surrounding of the entire city-in a single night. When the sun opened the next morning, Kitzbühel already shone in the new design.
6,000 caps, shirts and advertising material were distributed to 140 companies, clubs and partners overnight – as a visible sign of a collective commitment to the new brand.
High -wide campaign
Already on June 21, 2024, leading Austrian daily media such as the Tyrolean daily, the Krone and the Salzburger Nachrichten, the new Kitzbühel-Design prominently presented on their title pages. At the same time, OE24 with an animated online presentation provided digital attention and reach.
However, the presence does not end at the national borders: Kitzbühel is now also positioning itself internationally with attention -based bus advertisements in London and Berlin as well as large -scale advertising space at Frankfurt Airport.
Impressive range and media presence at the brand relaunch
In the course of the entire teaser and relaunch campaign, Kitzbühel reached a total of over 54 million people. The media interest was particularly noteworthy: the press release for relaunch generated a range of over 87 million – completely free of charge. This record value is to be classified as de facto priceless and is usually only reached over the entire year.
Long -term preparatory work for relaunch – the Walde Gams
One of the biggest challenges in the course of the brand relaunch was to secure the rights to the original Walde Gams for our members. In previous years there were repeated warnings due to misuse by the rights holder. For three years, intensive negotiations with the rights holders-above all Michael Berger-Walde-were conducted to enable legal use of the gams created by Alfons Walde for all members. For the first time, Kitzbühel Tourism was able to acquire the comprehensive rights to the protected forest gams. Members and associations can now use the lettering easily and protected by license law for non-commercial purposes. It was therefore clear to everyone involved from the start that the GAMs would also play a central role in the new brand appearance.
Constructive and less constructive criticisms
When implementing courageous strategic decisions, it is inevitable that not all stakeholders fully agree. Different interests and perspectives are a natural component of change processes and should be regarded as important elements of organizational development. Complete consensus is rarely reached and also not necessary, since constructive differences often lead to valuable impulses for innovation and progress.
The relaunch also triggered strong reactions – right down to a petition for the preservation of the “old gams”. After a sometimes controversial summer, Kitzbühel Tourism took the opportunity to inform all interested parties at the general assembly. A one and a half hour question and answer session as well as two information letters sent in advance on the GAMS and their use made a decisive contribution to noticed the discussion and to ensure clarity.
Was the relaunch successful?
Whether a brand appearance is successful depends on the constancy of the messages and motifs. It is only in a few years – depending on how consistently you have followed the relaunch – can really be seen whether the brand appearance was successful.
A major objective of the relaunch was to stand out from the uniform application of all destinations in the Alpine region, to use the power of the brand to address new – including younger – target groups and to increase awareness among the advertising formats.
At the end of June 2024, a first advertising efficiency measurement was carried out, which confirms a strong awareness of the campaign. Kitzbühel clearly stands out from other destinations as a unique brand. In addition to the imparting of the brand value “Charming mix of tradition and modernity”, the topics of tradition and customs are the focus – both as a main message and as an essential factor for high branded adaptation.
In the first two months, the campaign was able to significantly increase the brand strength among the defined target groups. People who had perceived earlier campaigns show improved values in central brand figures such as attractiveness, sympathy, probability of visit and recommendation. In addition, recognition, perception strength, brand binding and commitment could be significantly increased.
An additional accompaniment by the Cologne sports university confirmed these results using eye-tracking, memory tests and deep interviews after the first campaign series was completed. The campaign is perceived as conspicuous, courageous and confident and particularly appeals to a younger, urban -more target group. Above all, the goals set – increased differentiation, attention and perception – could be achieved.
The relaunch also has great interest internationally. The underlying strategy and the concept were presented at numerous conferences, including in Norway, Switzerland and Italy – with consistently positive feedback. Numerous delegations from home and abroad have searched for direct exchange in recent months and got an idea on site.
Awards for the relaunch
For outstanding and playful design services, the relaunch was awarded the coveted “German Design Award” in February 2025.
The German Design Award is one of the leading prices of the German Design Council and, with its international reach, is one of the most recognized awards in the design industry. Since 2012, groundbreaking trends in product, communication and architectural design have been awarded and presented to the general public.
In addition, the relaunch for the “German Brand Award” is nominated, which will be awarded at the end of June 2025.
Further information on the Kitzbühel destination can be found at kitzbuehel.com