Throughout the years, KLM has brought the wonder of air travel to generations. The new film, created by DDB Unlimited, tells the story of three generations of the same family who worked with KLM from the early days to the present, serving and caring for passengers. The first two featured women are inspired to fly and become flight attendants. However, the film closes with the granddaughter of the original woman, who ends up in the cockpit, taking off, as captain of KLM’s newest airplane, the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner.

#KLM100Years

Van Gael family – Same family, different time and plane!

Sharon en Kees Geervliet – How to combine family and work? Become a colleague of your dad!

Jaski Family – Like father, like son, like grandson

Bas and Van Veen – His first hero

Boet Kreiken, Executive Vice President Customer Experience, KLM:
“Today, we at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines celebrate our 100th birthday, so it’s a great moment in time to talk about what we stand for. We believe in bringing people together. Caring for our passengers. On top of this, we also stand for continuous progress. Progress in aviation, obviously, but also progress in a wider sense. Also, we’ve never forgotten the magic of flying. A magic that has been passed on through generations of customers, fans and employees.”

Recreating history
The film tracks KLM’s evolution from 1919 to the present day and features classic airplanes such as the Fokker F.II in 1934, the Douglas DC-4 in 1949, Boeing 747 in 1975 and ending with the brand-new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. All brought to life with the authentic uniforms, props and details from each decade.

The picture-perfect period detail was created by using some of the original airplanes, building historically accurate sets and by blending archive footage with cutting edge film techniques. The film is conceived and created by KLM’s long-time creative partner, DDB Unlimited. The team at DDB Unlimited worked closely with historians at the KLM Heritage Centre and fabled Dutch director Ismael ten Heuvel to ensure historical accuracy – paying minute attention to detail.

Esther te Pas, Managing Director at DDB Unlimited:
“We are telling a universal story which ends with a twist – hinting at how society has evolved in the last hundred years. We were able to recreate the past in such fantastic and realistic detail by treating this like a period feature film. Our team at DDB Unlimited worked with the director Ismael ten Heuvel and the historians at KLM to research everything fully to ensure that every detail is spot on to truly do justice to the rich heritage and history of KLM.”

There are countless real examples of entire families who have worked with KLM, careers spanning multiple generations.

Fly Responsibly
One of the other ways that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is marking its centenary is by looking to the future. Earlier this year, the airline recently launched a global call to action on sustainable travel under the name ‘Fly Responsibly’. KLM has stepped forward to ask the aviation industry as a whole to join forces to create a more sustainable future for aviation.

Credits
Client: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Campaign: KLM 100 Years
Agency: DDB Unlimited
Production: Pink Rabbit
Director: Ismael ten Heuvel
Editing: MRTN
Post production: Storm Post Production
Music: MassiveMusic, Joep Beving
Sound: Haaifaai

A bank, a radio station or even a restaurant
On average 54% of the respondents of the research conducted in August 2018 in Germany were aware that KLM is an airline. Amongst respondents younger than 30, this number dropped to only 37%. Respondents who did not know that KLM was an airline thought it was a bank, radio station or restaurant.

To counter this basic lack of knowledge about the brand in Germany, the ‘We are an Airline’ campaign was launched to drive awareness in a way that pushes the boundaries of traditional advertising.

The aviation-themed restaurant served KLM in-flight meals for free. The cash machine did not give any money but surprised people with a free flight ticket and showed them all the benefits of flying KLM. The radio station had a KLM band playing specially made KLM tracks, and KLM benefits were wrapped in fun KLM news items, commercials and a quiz.

“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” says Esther te Pas, Managing Director of DDB & Tribal Amsterdam.

“This isn’t the first non-traditional campaign we have made for KLM. In previous years we have offered KLM passengers an intelligent luggage tag with location-based tips that guided them through Amsterdam – in another instance, we encouraged random strangers at the airport to share a Christmas dinner to underline the fact that the airline genuinely cares for people.”

In addition to the experiential elements, the campaign also rolls out on a radio, online advertising and via social media throughout Germany. The campaign song ‘We are an Airline’ by The Flying Dutchmen which was made by DDB together with MassiveMusic Amsterdam will be released on Spotify this week.

Credits:
Client: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Campaign: We are an Airline
Product: KLM Deutschland, Natascha van Roode, Armelle de Cordoue, Nadja Daller Sturm
Agency: DDB & Tribal Amsterdam
Managing Director: Esther te Pas
Concept: Ed van Bennekom & Jasper Diks
Creative Director Art: Ed van Bennekom
Creative Director Copy: Jasper Diks
Producer: Jesse Houweling
Production Company: Who’s McQueen
Director: Jonty Toosey
Producer: Rainer Spix, Chirus Guder, Bian Tabar, Robert Leisewitz
D.O.P.: Bruce Jackson
Scanning: Lisette van der Lee
Off-line edit: DDB & Tribal Amsterdam
Editor off-line: Lisette van der Lee
On-line edit: Compound
Editor on-line: Compound
Geluidsstudio: MassiveMusic
Music: MassiveMusic Amsterdam

This article is about:
KLM, MassiveMusic, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, KLM Deutschland, Natascha van Roode, Armelle de Cordoue, Nadja Daller Sturm, DDB & Tribal, Awareness Campaign, We are an Airline, Bank, Restaurant, Radio, Aviation, Germany, Creative Agency

KLM and Airbnb share a passion for inspiring travel experiences! And because we both continuously work on innovative solutions and seeking out the truly unique, it made perfect sense to join forces.

To let the world know, we created a contest to win a once-in-a–lifetime opportunity: a one night stay in a KLM plane. As soon as the word was out it spread across the globe and resulted in no less than 10,000 participants who would like to experience an airplane decked out with a home cinema, terrace with airport view and 8 bathrooms to choose from. Eventually 3 lucky winners spent a magical night in the airplane apartment!

Our guests thoroughly enjoyed their extraordinary home for a night – despite the ban on using the inflatable emergency slide and roasting marshmallows in the jet engines.
We believe, for an amazing trip you need a great place. And what could be cooler than booking a truly local one? So from now on, you can book your accommodation via KLM’s travel guide.

Brand: Airbnb & KLM
Campaign: The Airplane Apartment
Agency: DDB
Website: klm
Source: airbnb.klm

The billboard was actually very simple in design as it just had a picture of a KLM airplane; however, the way it was designed was very unique. Agency Bleublancrouge placed a canister on the billboard that was controlled from a level at the ground level. People could then walk up to the “captain’s chair” and be the one to initiate a countdown to blastoff.

It’s quite a simple idea, yet it’s quite fun as well! To add onto the fun, one lucky participant had the opportunity to win two KLM tickets to Europe.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Bleublancrouge, Montreal, Canada
Creative Director: Jonathan Rouxel
Art Director: Fabrice Bouty
Copywriter: Alexis Caron Cote
Production House: 1ONE
Source: creativeguerrillamarketing