KLM-Flight Upgrader

KLM - FLIGHT UPGRADER

How do you get people to ‘trade up’ from a cheaper airline and get them to try your product? For KLM in the USA the solution has been to use virtual reality.

In particular, KLM released a virtual reality tour called Flight Upgrader. Flight Upgrader was first of all unleashed on passengers at New York’s JFK Airport who were flying with budget competitors.

When passengers at JFK put on the VR headsets, they found themselves in a KLM long-haul cabin, complete with in-flight catering and in-flight entertainment.

As the airline wrote in a statement launching the promotion, “Passengers can spend as much time on board the virtual KLM flight as they would like, so they will never have to face the harsh reality of a budget flight.

The Upgrader lets them try out the inflight entertainment system for free, where they can watch an episode and ten minutes of a recent blockbuster without paying extra as they would on a budget flight.”

Not everyone who has covered the promotion is a fan. Fast Company magazine says it is “implicitly shaming economy travellers because they had no other choice...because there’s no better way to forget you’re in cramped flying box by pretending you’re in another, slightly better cramped flying box.”

In response, KLM told Fast Company that the campaign was meant to be ‘cheeky’ and ‘humorous’, though it admitted that it should have been more explicit in the campaign message that the airline’s economy fairs are “competitively priced vs budget carriers, especially when

you start adding in the substantial fees for basic services that budget carriers chargeat every step along the journey. This campaign reminds usof two previous airline campaigns.

Earlier this year Lufthansa used virtual reality as a way of promoting its Premium Economy Cabin. Headsets were made available at the gate as a way of trying to encourage passengers to purchase last minute upgrades.

Meanwhile, several years ago SAS produced an app called “Time Killer” that was full of games such as ‘Spin the Hamster’ for passengers of other airlines toplay when their flight was delayed.

The aim was to promote the fact that the airline (at the time) was Europe’s most punctual airline.

In fact, according to Tnooz, KLM’s idea is similarly to turn ‘Flight Upgrader’ into an app, so that people can experience KLM long-haul from their phones.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

We disagree with Fast Company on this, the idea isn’t to shame passengers on LCCs, instead it is an eye-catching way to get them to look at what they might be missing, for not a lot more money.

Of course, there is a wider question mark over whether virtual reality really is a good campaign mechanic, with technology industry website recently declaring that “This VR cycle is dead.”