AI Extravaganza: How Linz, Austria, Made the Riskiest Tourism Ad of All Time

'I'm telling you, our city has changed. It's madness.'

This Linz Tourism campaign is a trip, all right.

Embracing AI overkill yields the wildest travel ad in recent memory. The picturesque city on the Danube River unleashes all manner of surreal oddities to drive home its message: “Take a risk, visit Linz.”

Yes, tourism campaigns have leaned into counterintuitive tropes before. But agency Fora Ultra 4000 and its production studio FloraFilm take everything to extremes.

The spot from directors Sinisa Vidovic and Dinko Draganovic opens on an ominous tone, with various people on the street speaking anxiously into the camera:

• “I’m telling you, our city has changed. It’s madness.”
• “I don’t want to go outside anymore.”
• “Vacation in this city? Extremely risky.”
• “The good old days are gone.”
• “We’re losing control.”
• “I thought this was a safe city. But actually, it’s more like the Wild West here!”
• “Linz always wanted to be modern. Now shit hit the fan.”

Indeed, computer-generated hell breaks loose, action-flick kaiju-style, with giant apes and mech-bots on a rampage, a huge-ass inflatable pig (emerging from a police vehicle!), rocket-propelled statues, a freaky face-split and swipes at Trump and Musk:

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Of course, by focusing on “risk” at all, the ad takes some thematic chances that could have backfired.

Here, however, the non-stop cray imagery pays off with so much slimy madness and campy destruction that viewers might just get swept away.

When pushing boundaries, It’s tough to get the tone right. But they nail it. A compelling sense of the unexpected powers the narrative; it’s edgy, naughty at times, and cray enough to crash through the clutter.

Bravo! Here’s a snack-stand explosion that’s not the least bit phallic:

So, why take such an outlandish approach?

“From the start, we knew AI had to be more than a gimmick. We weren’t interested in replacing people or leaning on visual tricks,” Vidovic tells Muse. “Instead, we asked: How can AI amplify the real? How can it become a lens to distort, exaggerate, or unsettle what we think we know?”

“We also leaned into imperfection. The footage is mostly handheld, immediate and raw. We wanted to explore what happens when real voices meet synthetic images.”

In fact, the work represents a combination of “documentary reality with generative AI,” he says, “creating a visual transformation that defies any template. It is neither classic live-action film nor a pure AI experiment, but a deliberate exploration of boundaries.”

“We wanted to sell tension, curiosity, the joy of taking the risk and the thrill of not knowing what’s coming next. The result is a piece that lives in between categories—human and machine, believable and bizarre.”

It’s a fusion of AI and practical filmmaking

“Unlike most creatives who start from scratch with AI-generated visuals, we began with the footage we shot and let AI tools enhance and expand it,” Vidovic says. “Often, we used individual frames as seeds for new imagery. In many cases, we reworked our own AI-generated visuals to create entirely new ones—AI on AI, so to speak.”

AI prompting itself. Yep, it’s come to that.

“Finally, we employed AI once more to weave everything together with wild transitions. The result is a hybrid rooted in our own material, complemented by simple, practical effects captured on set.”

For example, in the scene with a King Kong wannabe looming over Linz, “We filmed from a recognizable city viewpoint with a handheld camera, capturing a spontaneous, almost documentary-like atmosphere,” he recalls.

“Then, with AI, we inserted the creature in a way that feels simultaneously absurd and strangely believable. Finally, we linked the fused shot to the next AI-generated scene with a bold, surreal transition, again powered by AI.”

Like the cool kids say: no risk, no reward.

CREDITS

Original idea by Sinisa Vidovic
Written & Directed by Sinisa & Dinko
AI Visual Artist: Christian Steininger
Producer: Snezana Maric
Cinematographer: Lukas Kronsteiner
1st AD: Christian Steininger
1st AC: Benedikt Seyrkammer
Set Sound Engineer: Dominik Kostolnik
Gaffer: Thomas Schwarz
Hair & Make Up Artist: Anita Bachl
Styling & Set Design: Nina Scarazola
Production Manager: Vesna Vidovic
Production Assistant: Daria Thalhammer
Editor: Dinko Draganovic
Colorist: Christian Steininger
Original Music & Sound: Design Mirac
Logo Design: Fredmansky
Marketing Director: Marie-Louise Schnurpfeil
Marketing Management: Elisabeth Stephan, Franziska Leinsmer
Creative Agency: Fora Ultra 4000
Film Production Company: FORAFILM