Creatives understood their heavy lift on awareness and opinion: 43% of Britons and 62% of Germans know little more about Vilnius than its name, per the tourism bureau, while 10% of those populations believe Lithuania is heavily associated with Russia (“poor” and “unknown” were often-mentioned descriptors).

Negative to positive

In using negativity as a plus, the Lithuanian tourism group and its creative partners are in good company—many self-deprecating brands, in travel and other categories, have been doing the same for years.

“Expectations vs. Reality” drops at the beginning of the summer tourism season, when consumers are still making plans for their upcoming vacations. 

Well aware of its backwater baggage, Vilnius is touting its economic growth, its status as a European Green Capital and its membership in the European Union, NATO and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. A 2020 World Happiness Report ranked Lithuania as the happiest country for people under 30, per the tourism group.

And in a separate but coinciding marketing push, Go Vilnius recently collaborated with neighboring Polish city Lublin for an activation linking the two locations. (Tourism from Poland jumped 58% in 2023, with the group continuing to focus on that country for potential guests.)

Via a “futuristic digital installation” called “Portal” in their busy downtown areas, the cities appear to have a 650-kilometer dining table running between them. The optical illusion aims to boost the annual Pink Soup Fest, dubbed “the gastronomical highlight of the season,” coming June 1. The event drew 15,000 people last year to eat the cold soup, a popular summertime delicacy.