Bumpa Bumpa – Franz is the Man

“It’s not the species that survives, or the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.” -Charles Darwin

I swear, I was all set to write an enthralling post about New Year’s in Vienna. And I will. But this is an emergency – YOU’VE-GOT-TO-SEE-THIS – post. Because I was just getting my fix of a US TV series via Youtube with my trigger finger on “Skip this ad” when I was confronted with the following ad for a rather otherwise nondescript Austrian grocery store called ADEG.

You’ve got to check this out. Einfach Wunderbar! Think of it as your little dose of Austria. What Austrian or non-Austrian cannot be thoroughly enthralled by the artistic talents of Franz? Or the marketing genius of Franz’s creator. I hope it’s not just me suffering from some midnight madness and you can also appreciate this odd but ingenious marketing ploy. Oh, and by the way, they obviously recognized the potential for this to go viral and Franz to get a fan club, so you can even download Franz misc from the website here: ADEG.

Think of it as the Austrian version of Find Waldo – how many Austrianisms can you find in this video? They’re endless. Here are a few to get you started:
Brettljausen, Kaiser Franz Josef,  Bier, farm animals, skis, Hüte, the brass band, Mozart, the waltz, Leberkäs, Topfen, Schnitzel, Sachertorte, Mozartkugel, Maibaumtanz, Dirndl, Lederhosen, accordian, Holzknecht, Jugitzer, Ball, Strauss
And then you got all the sites: the Parliament, Stephansdom, Almwiese, Alpen, Skipiste, Stadtpark, Prater, Riesenrad,