KLM Becomes a Bank, Restaurant and Radio Station

Brand recognition is a tricky thing, particularly when your brand name is an acronym. People might recognise the name, but do they know what in tarnation your business actually does?

Unlike British Airways or German Wings, where the clue is in the name, Dutch company KLM ran into a few awareness issues in the German market, with just over half the population able to identify them as an airline. 

The other 46 per cent, when asked 'What is KLM?' reckoned it was either a bank, a restaurant or a radio station - an easy enough mistake to make. So DDB & Tribal Amsterdam came up with an experiential campaign to set the record straight... by physically turning KLM into the things people believed it was instead.

Under the guise of a new bank, a KLM ATM was set up in town, but rather than dispensing money, it surprised visitors with a free flight ticket and showed them all the benefits of flying KLM. Meanwhile, an aviation-themed restaurant opened its doors, serving KLM in-flight meals for free (no word on whether there was any choice other than chicken or fish. No, wait, they've run out of chicken).

Finally, KLM took over a local radio station with a cheesy-but-entertaining band playing custom-composed KLM tracks, and a programme of KLM news items, commercials and a quiz.

All of the stunts were captured in a campaign video, top, which will roll out along with radio, online and social media elements of the campaign. 

There's even an official song, We Are An Airline by (you guessed it) The Flying Dutchmen, created by DDB together with Amsterdam's MassiveMusic, which is set for will be release on Spotify this week. 

“With our new campaign for KLM Germany, we have taken an insight and turned it on its head. We’ve made a memorable awareness campaign out of the misconceptions that the general public in Germany have around what KLM is,” said Esther te Pas, managing director, DDB & Tribal Amsterdam.

This isn't the first time the airline has looked beyond traditional advertising. Previous years have seen KLM passengers offered an intelligent luggage tag with location-based tips to guide them around Amsterdam, while a Christmas stunt encouraged strangers at the airport to share a 'bonding buffet'.