For decades, The Blue Danube has been considered the unofficial Anthem of Space, famously immortalised in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yet, surprisingly, the musical masterpiece by the famous Viennese composer was not included on either of the Voyager Golden Records – a collection of humanity’s greatest achievements, including a selection of 27 songs, that was sent by NASA to reach potential extraterrestrial life back in 1977.
On May 31, Jung von Matt DONAU and the Vienna Tourist Board will correct that oversight, The Blue Danube Waltz will be broadcast to the farthest reaches of the universe, creating a timeless musical bridge between humanity and potential extraterrestrial life, in collaboration with the Wiener Symphoniker (Vienna Symphony Orchestra) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The campaign, Waltz into Space, will highlight the 200th birthday of Johan Strauss II, as well as Vienna’s reputation as the city of music.
The Blue Danube will be digitised and transmitted via the European Space Agency’s deep space communication facilities at Cebreros, Spain. The signal will continue indefinitely, traveling at 299,792 km/s – the speed of light, and will surpass Voyager 1 in about 23 hours and 3 minutes.
To create awareness ahead of the mission, Jung von Matt created a humorous film that speculates on why The Blue Danube was not included on the Voyager Golden Records. The story revolves around the Mission Director (played by Adam Astill,) whose love for the famous Viennese Waltz ended up leaving to disaster. The spot, directed by Bart Timmer, includes original footage from NASA documenting the launch of the Voyager spacecraft in 1977.
The film will be live from March 10 to May 2 in nine countries to announce the project. It will be accompanied by a microsite, also created by the agency, highlighting all the important information about the mission. The site will also enable people to symbolically “adopt” one of the 13.743 notes from The Blue Danube Waltz, linking each individual name to its journey into deep space and connecting them interactively to Vienna’s musical heritage. A series of ads, also created by Jung von Matt DONAU, will promote the note adoption.
Norbert Kettner, director of Vienna Tourist Board, commented, “As part of our mission with the European Space Agency, we are broadcasting “The Blue Danube” in the direction of the spacecraft that is already moving in interstellar space – Waltz into Space thus has an effect beyond our solar system and also inspires people on Earth to experience culture in Vienna,”
Stefan Bauernberger, creative director of Jung von Matt DONAU, added, “This project is ground-breaking because it challenges the limits of creativity itself – what does it mean to perform when the audience might not even be human?”
Waltz into Space is the latest in a series of innovative campaigns born from the creative collaboration between the Vienna Tourist Board and Jung von Matt DONAU. Previous campaigns have included placing famous risqué Vienna artworks on OnlyFans, introducing a “microdose Vienna” pill, and creating an augmented reality avatar of Sigmund Freud to encourage people to visit the city.
Find more information about the Waltz into Space Mission here.
Credits:
Creative Agency: Jung von Matt DONAU
Executive Creative Director: Michael Nagy
Creative Directors: Stefan Bauernberger, Andreas Kadenbach
Senior Copywriter: Theresa Scherrer
Junior Copywriter: Tina Arakis
Campaign Design: Kristina Miac
Senior Designers: Thomas Neulinger, Christian Gressel
Client Service Director: Cornelia Gall
Senior Project Manager: Lisa Gärtner
Project Managers: Anna Löwer, Ellen Mericka, Winnie Tsao
Title Animation: Roman Buchberger
Photography: Luise Thüringer
Programmer Microsite: Tom Strobl
Client: Vienna Tourist Board
Brand Management Director: Claudia Wieland
Brand Communication Team Manager: Lukas Merl
Project Management: Isabella Graf, Patricia Deubner
Sound Studio: soundfiler
Voice-over: Dave Dempsey
Producer: Patrick Kaiser
Production Studio chelsy
Director: Bart Timmer
DoP: Robbie Van Brussel
Executive Producer: Günther Zott
Producer: Vinh Tran
1st AD: Alban Bekic
Production Coordinator: Sara Martinez Hämmerle
Post Supervisor: David Schwaiger
Gaffer: Erich Puchner
Key Grip: Killian Filzi
Sound Engineer: Christoph Kuchner
Styling: Helga Schania
Make Up: Andrea Hanke
Cast (Mission Director): Adam Astill
Cast (Assistant): Hasan Dixon
Production Studio MXR Productions
DOP: Leonard Gaspar
