The project was inspired by the 200th anniversary of Johann Strauss II in 2025. Rather than looking back nostalgically, we wanted to bring Strauss into the present and make him relevant to a modern, open-minded audience. We were looking for a significant pop-culture story that could be told from different perspectives and attract media attention over a long period of time. That's how WALTZ INTO SPACE was born.

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In collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), we transmitted The Blue Danube Waltz, performed by the renowned Wiener Symphoniker towards Voyager 1 into interstellar Space. The initiative generated more than 6,500 international press articles and more than 13 billion impressions worldwide. By merging technology, creativity and personalisation, WALTZ INTO SPACE redefined how cultural heritage can be brought to life for global, digital-savvy audiences.

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The story:

In our collective imagination, The Blue Danube Waltz has long been celebrated as the ultimate Anthem of Space – famously immortalised in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yet, surprisingly, this iconic waltz was not included on either of the Voyager Golden Records – a collection of humanity’s greatest achievements that was launched by NASA to reach potential extraterrestrial life back in 1977. On May 31, 2025 Vienna set the record straight and staged an intergalactic concert performed by the Wiener Symhphoniker at the Museum of Applied Arts. The highlight of the programme was the transmission of the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss II towards Voyager 1 via ESA's Deep Space Antenna DSA 2 in Cebreros, Spain. Thanks to public screenings in New York, Cebreros, Madrid and Vienna, as well as online live streams and national broadcasters, the historical moment was shared with audiences across the globe and beyond.

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Waltz into Space consisted of a total of four campaign strands in nine markets. The thematic foundation was laid by promoting the short documentary Space Anthem, in which experts from the worlds of film, music and space explain why the Blue Danube Waltz is the anthem of space. The mission film offered an explanation as to how the Blue Danube Waltz could have been omitted from the Golden Record, and revealed the WALTZ INTO SPACE mission for the first time. Visitors to the microsite could claim one of the 13,743 notes of The Blue Danube Waltz and have their name sent to space with the music. Numerous prominent SpaceNote ambassadors expressed their support, including Austrian Federal President Alexander van der Bellen, Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig, the chief composer of "The Simpsons" Kara Talve and Spanish opera star Serena Sáenz. Finally, shortly before the concert, the live stream and public viewing in New York were advertised on Meta and via digital out-of-home advertising.