The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg: The Elbphilharmonie Grand Opening

Credits & Description:

Title: The Elbphilharmonie Grand Opening
Agency: Jung Von Matt
Brand: Hamburg Marketing
Country: Germany
Entrant Company: Hamburg Marketing, Hamburg
Advertising Agency: Jung Von Matt, Hamburg
Pr Agency: Achtung!, Hamburg
Production Company: Madhat, Offenbach Am Main / Jerry P. Appelt Lichtdesign, Hamburg / Production Resource Group, Hamburg / Laserfabrik, Hürth
Additional Company: Simon & Paul, Hamburg / Beacon Gmbh, Hamburg / Entertainment Technology Concepts Gmbh, Erkrath
Managing Director: Michael Otremba (Hamburg Marketing Gmbh)
Divisional Management: Svenja Holst-Runge (Hamburg Marketing Gmbh)
Project Director: Silke Sprätz (Hamburg Marketing Gmbh)
Chief Creative Officer: Götz Ulmer (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Executive Creative Director: Kai Heuser (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Director Brand & Design: Laura Galmes-Schwarz (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Client Service Director: Julia Brinker (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Senior Project Manager: Niels Böse (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Project Manager: Theresa Pucher (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Managing Director Creation: Joachim Kortlepel (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Managing Director: Katja Kraus (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Managing Director: Lutz Nebelin (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Creative Director: Gregory Namberger (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Art Director: Zoran Drobina (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Productionist: Jens Willers (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Strategic Planner: Detlef Klappert (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Senior Copywriter: Grischa Mentgen (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Junior Designer: Katharina Frerich (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Project Manager: Katharina Grimm (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Project Manager: Lena Sassenbach (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Senior Project Manager: Kristina Schulze (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Project Manager: Sina Schmidbauer (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Art Director: Fabian Mohr (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Designer: Teresa Becker (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Managing Director: Mirko Kaminski (Achtung! Gmbh)
Pr-Lead International: Alexa Doerr (Achtung! Gmbh)
Pr-Lead International: Yasmin Gouhari (Achtung! Gmbh)
Junior Designer: Steffanie Mitte (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Creative Producer: Sophie Wolter (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Content Manager: Katharina Steiner (Jung Von Matt Ag)
Synopsis:
During the construction period, everything went wrong with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg: Construction glitches, years of delay, court trials and giant cost increases had led to immense public scepticism and rejection.We had less than one year until the grand opening in January 2017 to turn the public mood around: from rejection to affection, from mockery to pride and from a history of criticism into a true love story, not only in Hamburg, but all over Germany and in other designated target markets (China, Japan, the US, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the UK, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland).
Relevancy:
The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg has a very controversial past. Construction delays and cost increases had led to scepticism and rejection among the people of Hamburg and throughout Germany.The Grand Opening, however, invited everybody to be part of the big event and made clear that Hamburg’s new concert hall is truly for everybody. The grand opening was a huge PR story and found its way into the worldwide media and was the talk of town in Hamburg and across the country. The Grand Opening itself generated a reach of 10.3 billion contacts and 21,638 worldwide media reports.
Outcome:
The Grand Opening itself generated a reach of 10.3 billion contacts and 21,638 worldwide media reports. Today all concerts are sold out and with over 1.5 million visitors in just six months, the Elbphilharmonie is the new number one tourist hotspot.
Execution:
We painted the music of the opening concert in real time on the building, turning the facade into a visual body of sound. A sound-reactive video and light show responded to the music being played, translating it into colours, shapes and movements. A special algorithm analysed the harmony, rhythm, tempo, volume and instrumentation of each piece of music to express them visually. An incorporated 3D model of the Elbphilharmonie enabled us to use 3D mapping effects to interact with the architecture.Twenty-eight high-performance projectors created the play of light and shadow, patterns, and simulations of particles and fluid. 800 spotlights extended these out into the third dimension. A computer system with 48 processor cores handled the real-time data.The show offered Hamburg residents outside the venue and viewers watching live on TV, Facebook live, the campaign website and with Google live in 360° a complete and perfectly coordinated audio-visual experience.
Strategy:
We had to address three different target groups, all with a different history and knowledge background:1.The people of Hamburg: they were involved the most in the construction nightmare and had the most intense relationship (since they paid for the Elbphilharmonie) and were the most important target group.2.The rest of Germany: mocking and joking about Hamburg and its apparent inability to build the Elbphilharmonie.3.The rest of the world: The Elbphilharmonie intends to become one of the top 10 concert halls in the world. So we were not only talking to people in Hamburg and Germany but everybody everywhere.We knew that the invited politicians, VIPs, influencers, key opinion leaders and everybody else inside the Elbphilharmonie’s Grand Hall would have a fantastic evening during the Grand Opening. But we needed more. We needed to involve everybody, in Hamburg, in Germany and around the world.
Campaign Description:
We transformed the Elbphilharmonie’s facade into a visual body of sound. A sound-reactive video and light show responded in real time to the music being played inside during the opening concert, translating it into colours, shapes and movements. As a result, the architecture and music merged into a complete experience – music literally became visible for everybody, on-site, digitally and through live broadcasting.