The pre-song postcards were introduced at the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 in Amsterdam to introduce each participating country and artist. They were introduced to "waste time" during the contest due to the low number of entrants.
The postcards showcased different aspects over the years: many featured scenes of local life or different points of interest around the host country, others featured the artists in various scenarios. Some even had a humorous tone at each country's expense as shown in the 1979 and 1984 postcards. The 1978 contest did not have the inter-song postcards (various shots of the artists backstage were used to introduce the performances), and in the 1980 contest, each country was introduced by a representative speaking in their native language. The 1991 contest featured each artist singing a portion of a well-known Italian song before their performance.
Artist Focus
Recently, the postcards increased their focus on the artists and shifted away from life in the host country. For example, the 2014 postcards featured each performer in their home country using creative means to replicate their nation's flag. The ideas ranged from using ice (Finland), candy (Germany), clothes (Austria) and dominoes (Switzerland) to big ideas like creating the United Kingdom flag out of mail trucks, double-decker buses and actual people.
The postcards for 2015 were in two parts: the first part consisting of each of the participants receiving a mystery package from Vienna in their own countries which contained a single object. The recipient then participated in an activity somewhere around Austria related to the object in the package (for example, Switzerland's Mélanie René received a hockey puck in her package, so her activity was playing hockey with a group of players in Weissensee).
The 2016 postcards told the stories of a day in the personal and professional lives of each artist in their own countries.
The 2019 postcards featured the artists visiting various locations in Israel and dancing with the people they meet there.
The 2021 postcards were filmed in the format of a "tiny house" located in various locations around the Netherlands. Each house contained items that personally connected to each of the artists
