Vienna Media News – September 2023 The ivie app turns Vienna into a playground

September 19, 2023 - A digital paper chase through Vienna themed on the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair? Use an audio guide to discover the Vienna that Empress Elisabeth, better known as Sisi, would have known? Or perhaps plan your family activities in Vienna? ivie, the digital city guide app that has already been downloaded 700,000 times, now offers new features and content that pro-vide a very special Vienna experience.

Which country presented the soybean plant for the first time at the Vienna World’s Fair? How many pairs of hands does a Lobmeyr jar pass through before it goes on sale? Questions like this and many more feature in the World’s Fair Challenge in Vienna’s official destination app, ivie, and need to be answered correctly if you want to enter the draw for the main prize – a weekend at the Hotel Imperial. The Vienna Tourist Board has combined the past and the present in its anniversary challenge, “Visions & New Beginnings. 150 Years of the Vienna World’s Fair”, using ivie to offer a playful way of exploring the city. The Vienna World’s Fair 1873 was the major event that made Vienna a global metropolis.

Explore Vienna with your smartphone

The new World’s Fair Challenge allows visitors to Vienna, as well as local residents, to explore the lasting traces of the Vienna World’s Fair until the end of 2023. Museums that are curating special exhibitions to mark the anniversary (Museum of Applied Arts, Weltmuseum Wien, Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art (Volkskundemuseum)), are just as involved in the challenge as coffee houses (Café Landtmann) and hotels (Hotel Imperial), which were opened in 1873 and laid the foundations for modern-day tourism in the city. A digital paper chase lies in store, guiding visitors through Vienna’s city center, Josefstadt district, and the former World’s Fair site in the Prater. How the challenge works: Users of the free destinations app, ivie (available on iOS and Android, more details at ivie.vienna.info), are encouraged to visit the most important locations that have a connection to this year’s anniversary. Users can then check-in digitally at the various locations using their smartphone, earning 2 points at each destination. The app also asks three quiz questions at each location, which grant another 3 points if answered correctly. Any user who accumulates 29 points in their digital wallet is eligible to win an original Vienna snow globe with a World’s Fair motif (100 globes can be won each month). Those who collect 45 points automatically enter the draw at the end of 2023 for a luxury weekend for two people at the Hotel Imperial – including a champagne breakfast.

Walking in Sisi’s footsteps

However, the World’s Fair Challenge is not the only way in which ivie is tempting visitors’ to experience Vienna in a different way. ivie’s Walks & Guides feature invites you to explore Vienna at your own pace using your smartphone. A new addition to the Walks & Guides section is the Sisi Audio Guide, which guides visitors to eleven locations in Vienna that have a connection with the eventful life of the Empress of Austria. The Hermesvilla in Lainz Game Reserve is just as much a part of the audio guide as Schönbrunn Palace, the Volksgarten, the Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna, the Capuchins’ Crypt, and the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology – as is the Josephinum, where the file used to assassinate Sisi in Geneva in 1898 is on display. Visitors to Vienna can access an audio chapter at each location, which will relate fascinating anecdotes from Sisi’s life.

Discover Vienna with your family

Another new feature in Walks & Guides is the Kids Guide, which provides a perfect overview of various activities in Vienna that are suitable for the whole family. Many of Vienna’s attractions and museums, including the Parliament, the Natural History Museum Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace, and the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology offer activities designed for children and families. However, the guide also presents places geared towards children, such as the House of the Sea, the Planetarium, the Vienna Thermal Baths, as well as lesser-known places like the Pötzleinsdorf Palace Park. And of course the Zoom Children’s Museum is not to be missed, one of the most exciting places for kids in Vienna. Plenty of action, games, fun and entertainment await younger visitors. With ivie, kids will never be bored in Vienna.

Explore the Vienna of the future

In the City of the Future guide, ivie focuses on Vienna’s ongoing rapid urban development. The guide highlights all the new places that will be important in Vienna in the third millennium and showcases the sides of Vienna that go beyond its imperial heritage. Spectacular urban development projects such as Seestadt Aspern, Viertel Zwei and the Sonnwendviertel are featured, as well as prominent landmark projects such as Vienna Central Station, which became operational in the 2010s. The striking landmark architecture of the DC Tower, the tallest building in Austria, is also featured in the City of the Future guide, as is the much-celebrated contemporary architecture of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Campus (WU) and Jean Nouvel’s Design Tower on the Danube Canal. These are places and buildings that will shape Vienna for many decades to come.

A city walk dedicated to unusual contrasts

The Messe Wien Grätzel Walk is yet another new feature in ivie – a city tour that is geared towards visitors to Messe Wien (Vienna Congress Center). The walk highlights the multifaceted nature of Vienna’s Prater area. Exciting contrasts can be found here between the cultural landscape, modern urban development, and the delights of the Wurstelprater amusement park. The walk also takes a detour to the Stuwerviertel, where a classic Viennese Gründerzeit neighborhood awaits to be explored. The popular ivie Christmas market guide will be available from the beginning of November 2023 and just in time for the Christmas season, showing where to find the most elegant Christmas markets in Vienna. Using the ivie guide will mean that nothing can get in the way of an atmospheric advent season in Vienna.

New commercial: become a Vienna expert with ivie

In the coming weeks and months, ivie will make an appearance on more than just users’ smartphones. A new ivie commercial will be launched as part of the ivie fall campaign. The spot will emphasize the benefits of the city guide app in a humorous and very sweet way. The commercial focuses on nine-year-old Rada, who becomes a Vienna expert in a matter of seconds thanks to ivie. Rada’s knowledge of Vienna’s sights and museums astonishes the people around her, causing the crowd of amazed people listening to her in rapt attention to grow larger and larger. The commercial presents new ivie features, such as playing personalized content, in a charming and exuberant way, as well as the extensive new range of food offerings advertised. The message of the charming commercial: ivie turns Vienna’s visitors into Vienna experts and ambassadors of the city at the touch of a (download) button. The spot can be viewed here. The number of downloads shows that ivie has been well received: since its launch in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, the app has already been downloaded 700,000 times.

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