Bonding Buffet

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is in the business of bringing people together: it unites families, friends and other relations all over the world. At the end of a year with much turbulence around the globe, KLM wanted to use Christmastime to communicate a message of unity, togetherness and sharing. A message that would touch people. A message that would create sympathy for the brand and should contribute to KLM’s brand purpose ‘Moving your world by creating memorable experiences’.

In just a couple of days KLM’s Bonding Buffet video grew to be the most popular KLM online video ever. It reached over 100 million (!) people worldwide, collected over 71 million views and was shared almost 500,000 times. Over 2 million people gave it a Like or a ‘Great’ (Big Like) and comments were almost exclusively very positive. Almost 80% of these results were accomplished via organic reach / earned media. Many national and international blogs picked up the video, most notably the International Business Times and 9GAG.

Insight: airports can make you feel lonely sometimes, especially when you are travelling around Christmastime, a time for sharing, unity and togetherness.

KLM is in the business of bringing people together all around the world. What if it could already bring people together while on the road? What if we could persuade lonely travellers at an airport to forget about their phone or book for a few minutes and share enjoyable moments with fellow travellers instead? What if we could unite strangers from different countries and cultures? We felt people would be eager to share a positive story about unity with everyone they knew, at the end of a not so positive year.

We installed a table for 20 at Schiphol airport, but it was lifted 15 feet high, so that people could not reach the Christmas dinner served on it. 20 stools surrounding the table were equipped with a pressure sensor. With every traveller that sat down on a stool, the table was lowered a little.

Travellers were excited and started to work together to lower the table. People from all over the world (20 different nationalities) put their phones or books aside and enjoyed a very special Christmas dinner together. We filmed the event and shared the video – all about sharing, unity and togetherness – online right before Christmas.

KLM asked the agency to create this message. As always it asked us to develop a story that would evolve around real people, not actors. Since Christmastime is one of the most busy times of the year for the airline, the realisation of the concept should not have too many logistical implications for them. KLM would need all hands to secure smooth running operations at this time of year.

Jury Feedback

DIGITAL & SOCIAL / BRONZE

‘This is the type of content that moves people. Close to a human insight. Great social video content.’