05-06-2011

PR Report Award 2011 for Oberstaufen

Oberstaufen was able to gain recognition throughout Germany, in November 2010, by being the first town to be presented on Google Street View. The positive reaction throughout the media was massive. Thousands of people followed this public festival on Facebook, Twitter and various Blogs, congratulating this small Allgäuer village to such a coup. Due to this, the media branch experts awarded Oberstaufen with the
"PR Award 2011".

The "Oscar the PR Branch" was presented to Bianca Keybach, the Managing Director of the Oberstaufen Tourism and Walter Grath, the Town Mayor, during a gala evening on Thursday, in the Maritime Hotel, Berlin. Both where very proud to receive the award and was commented by Frau Keybach as follows: "We are very happy to accept this award and are proud to be able to put Allgäu on the first digital German spa map".

The "PR Award" has been presented since 2007. The branch magazine, "PR Report" allocates the prize for outstanding communication accomplishments. This year, a jury of 25 professionals had to choose between 81 finalists, from 20 categories.

Oberstaufen- nominated twice- was award winning in the category "Corporate Media", acknowledged for its excellent PR strategies and in using various media formats.

A lot of people reacted negatively to Google’s "Panoramic Street View" service, as it was announced in summer of 2010. Oberstaufen saw the enormous potential for the tourist industry, and how important it could be in gaining widespread media attention, giving them the possibility of positioning Oberstaufen as a wellness and lifestyle place to visit, within the Allgäu region.

With the motto: "When everyone is against the idea, then we are for it - people should be able to see how beautiful our town is, we have nothing to hide".
Oberstaufen had a great idea. By using Facebook and Twitter, website articles and various press releases, they presented Google with an invitation in the form of a cake, to come and visit Oberstaufen, with the welcoming gesture of free accommodation for the Google Team. The result was, instead of the original plan of Google starting with the 20 largest German cities, they chose the small spa town to be the first on the world wide web, with all their streets on view, going online on the 2nd of November, 2010.

The spectacle of the grand opening, "Go Live", took place in the local park. The coverage was overwhelming.