Herwig aus Wien

A genuineViennese from Favoriten

How a genuine Viennese original became an organically grown social media brand.

Social Organic Campaigning
Entertainment
Community Building

+17,3million
organic impressions without any advertising budget
+53.000
built-up followers form a new community
+100
published posts

Problem

Translating the original Herwig to social media

Herwig has had many jobs in his life: fiacre driver, taxi driver, lorry driver, lifeguard, mechanic, chestnut seller and much more. We happened to meet him during a shoot in Vienna city centre, at a sausage stand. After just a few minutes, it was clear that we had someone in front of us who brought something that cannot be cast: the Viennese dialect, his own stories and the right wit.

His stories about Vienna, old terms and the city’s peculiarities were entertaining and stayed with you. The challenge was to translate this personality into a social media format without smoothing it over or staging it artificially. Herwig was not meant to play a role. He was meant to speak as he had always spoken.

The goal was clear: to build a loyal Viennese community interested in Austrian culture, the Viennese dialect, old terms and stories from everyday life.

Strategy

Edutainment with a genuine Viennese original

The strategic approach focuses on what Herwig already brought to the table: his language, his experiences and his direct approach to Viennese topics. Instead of developing an artificial social media persona, his natural manner became the focus of the format.

The content combines entertainment with knowledge. Herwig explains Viennese terms, tells old stories and puts the city’s peculiarities into context. This created edutainment that conveys one specific idea per video while still sounding like Herwig.

Implementation

A daily Reels machine for Viennese stories

The campaign relies on short, easy-to-understand videos with a clear content logic. Herwig always remains himself. The key components:

Vertical short-form videos: Herwig’s stories are prepared as short Reels for TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

One idea per Reel: Each video focuses on one specific explanation, story or Viennese term.

Authentic presence: Herwig speaks in his own dialect, without a prescribed role or artificial staging.

Edutainment content: Entertainment and knowledge-sharing are combined so that the content both entertains and stays memorable.

Consistent development: More than 100 posts have been published in total. The format is continuously filled with new stories, terms and observations from Vienna.

Organic growth: The channels were built without an advertising budget. Reach and community stem from the relevance and recognisability of the content.

Business Impact

From zero to an established Viennese personal brand

Herwig aus Wien has so far achieved 17,3 million organic impressions. In just a few months, the channels grew to more than 53.000 followers – entirely organically, without an advertising budget. This created a growing community around Herwig’s explanations, the Viennese dialect and stories from the city. The “Herwig aus Wien” brand gained clear recognisability and occupied a specific topic: Vienna from the perspective of a real Viennese person.