The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival starts this weekend, and we’ve been looking forward to it since we launched its much-anticipated 2013 talent announcement video in January. Created by Peter Mayer, the video had viewers liking, commenting, sharing and dancing from the very first click.

“Best. Announcement. Video. Ever!” one fan posted.

“If the announcement was this good, I wonder how spectacular the Fest is going to be!” posted another.

Watch the Official Jazz Fest 2013 Talent Announcement Video on YouTube »

The 2:15 minute video, which was cut down into shorter spots for television and web usage, shows just how entrenched Jazz Fest is in New Orleans culture with band names appearing everywhere you look in New Orleans—on restaurant menu boards, street signs, on the side of buildings, on streetcars…you name it. The piece features great New Orleans architecture, food, and other attractions, designed to make viewers crave a visit not just to Jazz Fest but to NOLA itself. The agency worked with Moontower VFX of Austin, the company responsible for the 2012 Lollapalooza announcement video.

“This city provides a great canvas for a creative video like this,” Peter Mayer Group Creative Director Neil Landry said. “The challenge was to merge the excitement of the Jazz Fest lineup with the amazing texture of the city we find all around us. We wanted to show that Jazz Fest is a unique part of New Orleans culture. It’s in the city’s DNA. Nowhere else can put on a show quite like this. It’s the one of the best music festivals in the world hosted in a city literally born from music.”

The video is a celebration of music in America’s most interesting city from an agency that understands the culture of Jazz Fest like no other. In fact, Peter Mayer, which has represented the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for years, actually does a soft closing at noon on the first Friday of every Jazz Fest. One of the perks of working here is you get a free ticket to the Fest. (If you want crawfish bread or a soft shell crab po’boy, you’re on your own.)

This year’s Jazz Fest takes place April 26 to May 5 and features famous performers like Fleetwood Mac and Maroon 5 as well as New Orleans legends like Dr. John and Aaron Neville. As the tagline says, this is “New Orleans at its Fest!” For more information, visit nojazzfest.com. For tickets, visit Ticketmaster.com.