· Lufthansa partners with local Cape Town graffiti artists to produce three
temporary outdoor art installations
· Cape Town to feature as Lufthansa’s city of the month in February through all
Lufthansa communication channels
· Lufthansa aims to increase the attractiveness of the city to international travellers
in 2017
Celebrating the German passenger airline’s love of the Mother City, Lufthansa has embarked on a partnership with Cape Town graffiti artists Lyle Dolman and Mathew Schafer from Arts Alternative to create a series of temporary art installations showing exactly how much Lufthansa loves the city. The immersive graffiti art installations have been painted on three buildings in some of Cape Town’s busiest commercial areas – Claremont, St Georges in the CBD, and Woodstock – all carrying the hashtag #LHCityoftheMonth. This is in anticipation of Lufthansa’s February global media campaign to promote the city. In December 2016 Lufthansa celebrated the inaugural non-stop route between Cape Town and Frankfurt, significantly expanding the group’s operations in South Africa, and Southern Africa.
“By partnering with Arts Alternative we are tapping into the local lifestyle and culture of the city,” said Jolanta Slomkowski, Brand Manager South Africa for Lufthansa, “Travellers identify with brands that fit their lifestyle in culturally relevant ways, and Lyle and Mathew’s graffiti installations are a wonderful expression of the soul of the city.” Slomkowski goes on further to explain that “the installations have pulled inspiration from the city’s beautiful landscape and culture, incorporating our chosen artists’ unique interpretations for the local community and international travellers to enjoy.”
“Cape Town is popular among international tourists for its distinguished attractions for tourists, while the city’s urban art has gained international acclaim for its ability to make powerful and socially insightful statements. Through the campaign, Lyle and Mathew have brought art to life with unique works of art on a grand scale showcasing Lufthansa’s dedication to the Mother City in a unique and engaging way.” 
Lyle shares his thoughts on the opportunity to work with Lufthansa, “This is the single biggest opportunity for Arts Alternative so far to showcase what we can do. However, the opportunity is twofold; we get to show the painting, designing and advertising capabilities of Art Alternative on a world stage, and we are able to promote Lufthansa’s new direct flight between Frankfurt and Cape Town in a way that relates to the bold design and advertising stance that Cape Town and South Africa is known for.”
On whether Capetonians will welcome this type of street art installation, Mathew says, “Absolutely. Cape Town has always been known to be at the forefront of South Africa’s design and creativity industry. Therefore, it’s most fitting to have a campaign of this type run in Cape Town. In my opinion, Lufthansa has become a benchmark of what brands can accomplish in a bold fashion that resonates well with a local targeted audience.”
In addition, the Lufthansa central marketing team in Frankfurt has chosen Cape Town as its city of the month in February, dedicating all its media channels to highlighting the Mother City’s beauty and attractions. For the month of February, Cape Town will be featured on the Lufthansa website’s travel guides, the city will be featured within the Lufthansa inflight magazine, and will be promoted through its social media channels that have over 2,3-million Facebook, over 530-thousand Instagram, and over 300-thousand Twitter followers. Cape Town will feature alongside of other major international cities to be promoted in 2017; previous profiled cities in 2016 included Amsterdam, Lisbon, Tokyo, Budapest, as well as Munich, which was featured as January 2017’s city of the month. 
Wesgro CEO Tim Harris said: “As the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape we are excited by the increase in visitors and business the newly-launched Lufthansa direct flight between Frankfurt and Cape Town has helped us generate. Bookings to Cape Town from some major German regions grew by an estimated 30% last year and Lufthansa’s new direct route is going a long way to help us meet this demand, and grow economic relations with Germany. This all-year route is also supported by a Munich flight in our summer season, and Wesgro looks forward to welcoming the new influx of German visitors and business.”
Andre Schulz, General Manager Southern Africa for Lufthansa concludes, “Lufthansa is exceptionally proud of its Cape Town routes, and we are excited to be profiling the Mother City and its exceptional beauty to more international travellers. We are confident that our already popular Frankfurt to Cape Town route will grow in popularity, and we are happy to be the airline of choice for those eager to explore the many attractions and curious corners of this exceptional city”.
The Lufthansa Group in brief
The Lufthansa Group is the world’s biggest airline group in turnover terms, and is also the market leader in Europe’s airline sector. The Group strives to be the “First Choice in Aviation” for its customers, employees, shareholders and partners. And safety, quality, reliability and innovation are the prime credentials and priorities of all its business activities.
The Lufthansa Group is divided into the three strategic areas of Hub Airlines, Point-to-Point Business and Service Companies. The Group’s network carriers, with their premium brands of Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines, serve its home market from their Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna hubs. With its Eurowings brand, the Group also offers short- and long-haul point-to-point services in the growing private travel market. And with its service companies, which are all global market leaders in their individual industries, the Lufthansa Group has found success in further areas of the aviation business.
The Lufthansa Group’s airlines currently (Winter Season 2017) serve 255 destinations in 101 countries on four continents. The Group’s total fleet comprises some 600 aircraft; and its member airlines will be taking delivery of 251 new transports between now and 2025. The Group employed around 120,000 personnel in 2016, welcomed 107.7 million passengers aboard its flights and generated sales of some EUR 32.1 billion (2015 figures).
