KLM Royal Dutch Airlines: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Credits & Description:

Client: Klm Royal Dutch Airlines
Agency: Ddb & Tribal Amsterdam
Production Company: Mr. Frank
Concept Creator: Bart Mol, Pol Hoenderboom
Art Director: Bart Mol
Copywriter: Pol Hoenderboom
Project Lead Client Side: Frank Houben, Natascha Van Roode, Marit Badia Hilligehekken
Agency Strategist: Ralf Hesen
Agency Producer: Yuka Kambayashi, Jolijn De Haas
Agency Business Director: Esther Te Pas
Music Studio: Massivemusic
Post Production: Random Studio
Model Maker: Fiction Factory
BRIEF
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, home of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, is growing rapidly and becoming more clogged every day. KLM asked us to highlight six of their initiatives that improve ease of travel through the airport for its passengers: from avoiding lines at check-in desks to new ways of boarding that prevent queuing up in the aisle.
We needed to find a way that would make people – notably their own passengers – notice and realise that KLM also makes its passengers’ journey a more pleasurable experience outside of their planes.
Objective: reach and engage primarily KLM passengers, and secondarily as many Schiphol visitors as possible, with this message, in such a way that it sticks in their mind.
IDEA
In a perfect world, travellers would always be able to continue their journey at the airport completely unobstructed. We showed this by using a metaphor: a marble that literally follows the path of least resistance, with KLM helping it to achieve that.
Based on this metaphor we crafted a fascinating artwork: a kinetic installation showing 198 steel marbles in motion, representing KLM passengers on their way to catch a flight. They move through a seemingly chaotic airport and end up in the structured environment of an airplane cabin.
The handcrafted installation leads ‘passengers’ past various KLM initiatives that smoothen their journey, each linked to a special segment in the installation. Like a fast lane for people using self-service baggage check-in or by featuring a specially developed algorithm that helps passengers board without queuing up in the aisle.
INSIGHTS
Built to be shown at airports, we wanted to create a mesmerising art piece that people actually want to watch. First we built the installation in 3D to see how we could visualise the KLM initiatives. Next we built a 1:1 prototype to see how the marbles interacted at different velocities. The final step was handcrafting the final course, working with the best craftsmen.
In early 2018 the installation will be exhibited at KLM’s home base of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, for three months. The airport hosts up to 230K visitors per day, so the projected reach is millions. In 2017 the installation was exhibited at the Dutch Design Week where it reached 335K visitors, and at the Dutch Open Golf tournament, which hosted 50K visitors.
We shared an engaging video around the handcrafted production of the installation via KLM media (email, social channels), through which we reached 2.1 million KLM passengers (current passengers and/or previous passengers).