Concepting Plus

Lieke van Heesbeen 2186162 Nicolle Smetsers 2191232 Eva van Os 2191524 Ivo Swinkels 2165978

An image is a perception that the target group has for a company. The image is built up by the sum of the company’s marketing communication and the interpretation of the recipients. It is important as a company to pay attention to the way it is communicating because that is the key for a strong image.

The reason why a company exist is a question not a lot of companies start with. They mostly start with thinking about what they want to do and how they are going to do it. They think their customers will come and keep coming eventually. However, if a company can really explain why they are doing what they are doing, they will gain customers that will believe in the company and those customers are far more loyal than any regular customer.

In this report, you will find an image advise for the company Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM), known in English as Royal Dutch airlines. The report is the result of an assignment for the advanced course Concepting plus at Fontys Academy for Creative Industries and is written by Ivo Swinkels, Eva van Os, Lieke van Heesbeen and Nicolle Smetsers. We are students in year four of the study International Event Music and Entertainment Studies at Fontys ACI in Tilburg.

According to the information we gathered during the course about concept models, we created the image BLOOM-model. This model is a guideline for companies to create a good and strong image that starts with the question why the company exist. Step by step it gains a clear vision followed by a strong mission. The model helps companies to build stronger communication means for all of their stakeholders. Because not only their customers need to believe in the vision and mission, their employees and their partners should also know why the company exist.

We analysed the company KLM and therefrom we found a couple of pain points that could be done better. For these points we developed recommendations that KLM should use for a better and stronger image.

The report consists of the following topics:

- Description model

- Description KLM

- Analyse KLM by the BLOOM-model

- Pain points and chance

- Recommendations

Introduction

IndexModel 4 1. Description model 6 1.1 Roots 7 1.2 Trunk 8 1.3 Braches 10 1.4 Bloom 122. Links to theory 133.Description KLM 144. Applying model to KLM 16 4.1 Roots 16 4.2 Trunk 17 4.3 Branches 195. Pain points 226. Conclusions & remcommendation 237. Implementation 24 7.1 Nicolle 24 7.2 Lieke 30 7.3 Ivo 33 7.4 Eva 378. Sources 41

Step 1: Roots Mission, vision & core values

Step 2: Trunk Stakeholders

Step 3: Branches Touch points

Step 4: BLOOM

Step 4: BLOOM

Description model

This model is created to give companies a guide how to establish a clear vision and lets them think about how they want their vision to be represented through communication means to their stakeholders. It is visualised as a three and divided into three parts; the roots, the trunk and the branches.

The roots are the base of a company. By following the Bloom-model, a business becomes stronger from the base. These roots include the vision, mission and core values. When you are thinking about your vision, you also have to think about the way you are going to achieve your vision. This is something you describe in your mission. Your core values are simply a sum up of your vision and mission, but these values are a great tool to use while designing your communication means.

After the roots you are going to design the ‘trunk’. In the trunk a company thinks about a persona for each stakeholder. For example an employee of the legal department. The persona describes the tasks the employee has, the co-workers he or she engages with, but it also describes how old the person is and how long he or she is working at the company. It doesn’t have to be a specific person, but it should give an image of the average employee, customer or partner.

After finishing a persona in the ‘trunk’, you check if the touch points this persona has correspond with the roots of the company. These are the branches in the model. If your touch points (communication means) are a good representation of your core values, you can colour them green, if they need a bit little more work, colour them orange. If you have to scratch them and think of something new, colour them red. This visualises how much work you have to do.

1

6 7

The Roots

Step 1: The RootsFor a company, it is important to have a clear and strong foundation. The Golden Circle model provides a good example. This model starts with the basics, which is very important. However, this alone is insufficient. By following the Bloom-model a business becomes stronger from the base. The base are the roots of a company, these roots include the vision, mission and core values.

Vision

Ask yourself: ‘Why does the company exist?’ If your answer is ‘to make a profit’, think again. If your answer is ‘to make a better product for the environment and for people’ then you’re on the right track. A vision gives a visionary and ambitious idea of what an organization wants to be. In the definition of the vision, you look at the world of today, the future opportunities and you describe the desired dream situation. To formulate a vision for your company, you can ask yourself the following questions:

Core values

Core values are the most important values within an organization. The concepts of core values and basic values are synonyms. The concept of value is like the concepts of principles and standards of ethics and sociology.

Out of a strong base you will achieve a full tree, were the branches and leaves represent a healthy and strong company.

1. What developments (economic, sociological, technical, political) are important to our organization?

2. What does our future look like and those of our competitors?

3. What ambitions do we have in the long term?

4. What core competence, do we need to develop for the future?

Mission

Another relevant question is: What are you going to do to make this vision come true. This doesn’t say how you are going to do it, but it explains to your target group what you are doing.

The mission (by some companies called mission statement) defines the existence and identity of an organization. Through your mission you share who you are, what you do and what you want to achieve. The mission should always be timeless.

1.1

6 7

Step 2: TrunkThe next step is called the trunk. This step makes you think about what kind of target group the focus is on. In the BLOOM model this step takes place after defining the vision, mission and the core values. By making a persona the company will know how its target group comes in contact with the company. When the descriptions of the target group is clear, it will be easier to produce content that fits the needs and wishes of the costumer. Remember that every stakeholder group is different, so make one persona for your employees, one for your customers and one for your partners.

The Trunk1.2

Persona employees

The first step is to describe the main demographic features of your persona. So age, sex and education. The second step is to make a choice for which department your persona works (if your company has multiple departments). After that make a description of the day to day activities this persona has in a week or month. The fourth step is to think about towards who this persona communicates the roots to outside the company. Does the persona have contact with (potential) customers or partners? Does he or she talks with family and friends, participates in any sports or does the persona has other hobbies? The last step is to describe the current lifestyle of your persona. Is he or she living together, alone or at his/her parents? Does he or she prefer a formal or informal tone? What does the persona wants to achieve within the company and in his/her personal life?

8 9

Persona customers

For customers the steps are a bit different. You’d still want to know their age, sex and education, but for customers you’d also want to know what kind of organization they are working for. How they use your product or service and if they are a frequent user or occasionally? Is he or she a decision maker or an influencer, etc.? Finally, you would also want to know your persona’s lifestyle, personal goals, personal challenges, business goals and - challenges.

Persona partners

Other companies where the company has cooperation with, other companies that buy products or use the service of the company are called partners. Again it is important to describe the main demographic features of your persona (age, sex and education). The second step is to clarify with which department your persona had contact with or will have contact with (if your company has multiple departments). After that make a description of the history of activities this persona has had with the company until now and a description of future business transactions that could be made. The fourth step is to think about how this persona gets in contact with the roots, for example through phone calls or via the website. Also determine if this persona talks with family and friends about their work? Does this persona participates in any sports or does the persona have other hobbies? The last step is to describe the current lifestyle of your persona. Is he or she living together, alone or at his/her parents? Does he or she prefer a formal or informal tone? What does the persona want to achieve within the company and in within his/her personal life?

8 9

Step 3: BranchesPartners

To cooperate with a company it is important to know what the believes of a company are. This way the companies can see if they have an overlap with each other. Partners will come in contact with the mission and vision through external communication like a phone conversation

Stakeholders

Now you are going to think about how you are communicating your vision. The mission and vision are part of your communication means and it is important to know how and when you are communicating with each stakeholder. Which touch points these are, are discussed below. However, this can be different for each company.

Employees

The employees are in contact with the vision and mission of the company on a daily basis, in fact they are the ones who are responsible for communicating the vision and mission towards (potential) customers and partners. This is why it is very important, that they know what it stands for and how they can communicate the vision and mission in the best possible way.

This can be achieved by explaining them the mission and vision, but they can also be inspirered through other touch points they have. For example when they come in contact with a vacancy or during the application process. Later it can be communicated through an employees newsletter, a Christmas party, teambuilding activities or during lunch.

Consumers

Eventually, the customers will also come in contact with the mission and vision of the company. Think about when they see a commercial, when they contact the customer service and when they visit the website of the company. How is the vision and mission communicated to them through your communication means? What are your communication means? But also think about other publicity that you might have, for example free publicity and criticism.

Branches1.3

10 11

10 11

Bloom1.4

Out of a strong base you will achieve a full tree, were the branches and leaves represent a healthy (green) and strong company. If your communication means do not correspond with your roots, your tree will turn more orange and red, which will result in a perished tree.

12 13

Links to theory

There are several ways to identify the vision of a company, some are focused on what the present and future opportunities are for the company, what the company wants to be and others describe it as ambitions the company has. Simon Sinek, however, created the Golden Circle, which companies can use to develop a vision that is just as inspiring as the one apple has and the wright brothers had. The Golden Circle was an inspiration for this model because, instead of thinking about what the company is trying to sell, it lets companies think about why they are trying to sell.

For the uninspiring companies that answer would be, to make money. For inspirational companies that can be, to give people something beautifull designed and easy to use, like apple. Or the company exists because the owners have a fascination for new technology, such as the wright brothers had.

The way the vision is communicated to the stakeholders depends on which stakeholder it is. An employee has a different communication process with different touchpoints then customers or partners for example. Experience mapping is a great way to create a timeline of all the touchpoints between the company and their stakeholders. This way the company can identify if its touchpoints fit with the vision. If not, the company can work on its communication means. To make this process easier, experience mapping also uses personas. In this model this is used to make it easier to identify the touchpoints each stakeholder has.

2

12 13

Description KLM

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded on 7 October 1919. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM) is the oldest airline in the world, which still operates under its original name. In 1920 KLM made its first scheduled flights between Amsterdam and Londen whereby it also gives its name to the oldest international scheduled service. Transavia and Martinair KLM are subsidiaries of KLM and supplement and strengthen each other in important areas. In May 2004 KLM and Air France merged and became the largest European airline group. KLM focuses on the individual behind the customer and their customer-oriented service shows its pragmatic and entrepreneurial Dutch spirit. In the KLM group 32.000 employers carry out this service. Availability is a core value in the employee policy of KLM. That employees enjoy working and stay healthy as long as possible is important for KLM. It is the reason why KLM takes care of the health and development opportunities for its employees. By giving them the opportunity to use fitness centres in departments and provide healthy food in the staff’s restaurants. KLM also offers trainings and the possibility to change jobs to expand the skills and experience of its employees. KLM expects flexibility from the individual employees to adapt to new technology and customer markets.

Corporate Social Responsibility

In the airline sector KLM has taken the initiative for Corporate Social Responsibility. Together with Air France, KLM wants to set the standard for an integrated approach in the airline sector. The focus of the CSR policy lays on customers, employees and society. KLM has contributed to the UN Millennium Development Goals by signing the United Nation’s Global Compact.

Mission

With Air France, KLM is at the forefront of the European airline industry. Offering reliability and a healthy dose of Dutch pragmatism. 32,000 KLM employees work to provide innovative products for our customers and a safe, efficient, service-oriented operation with a proactive focus on sustainability. KLM strives to achieve profitable growth that contributes to both its own corporate aims and to economic and social development.

KLM works to create sustainable growth at Schiphol, to gain access to any market that will increase the quality of its network and to maintain a level playing field for all industry players. It also works to ensure a balance between the company’s interests and those of the people living and working close to the airport.

3

14 15

Vision

KLM wants to be at the front of the industry by being smarter than the rest. By merging with Air France KLM has occupied a leading position in the international airline industry. KLM wants to be the customers’ first choice, to be an attractive employer for its staff and, a company that grows profitably for its shareholders. With smart partnerships and pioneering new destinations, KLM offers global access through its extensive network. By responding to market opportunities and technological developments, KLM offers customers a contemporary product.

14 15

Applying model to KLM

4.1RootsVision

In the vision of KLM, it states that it wants to be ‘smarter than the rest’, customers first choice and a company that grows for its stakeholders. These factors are all targeted on profit and being the best. They are not about inspiring, helping others or anwser the question why KLM exists. However, KLM does say it wants to be an attractive employer for its staff.

Mission

Most of the missions are a description of how the vision is going to be worked out. Not concrete, but it gives a view of the way a company works. KLM has a mission that is unselfish. KLM says it wants to offer reliability, Dutch pragmatism, innovative products, safe, efficient, service-oriented operation with a proactive focus on sustainability. It strives to ‘achieve profitable growth that contributes to both its own corporate aims and to economic and social development. KLM do describes which behaviour it tries to have, but besides that the mission also describes a few targets. Which shouldn’t be described in a mission.

Core Values

• Flexibility • Service oriented

• Reliable • Modern

• Dutch pragmatism • Being number one choice

• Safety • Availability

• Efficiency • Durable

• Profitable • Development

These core values are key words in the vision and mission as they are written now. Words like profitable and being number one choice are not the words people believe in and should not be the words a company’s reason for existence. Unless KLM wants to be a uninspiring.

4

16 17

4.2 Trunk

Persona employees

Lieke (34) is one of the employees on the sales department. She graduated from InHolland hogeschool in Rotterdam and moved to Amstelveen after she married her husband Johan. They are now living there with their two daughters Ella (7) and Lucy (5). Lieke has been working for KLM for 8 years and the last 2 years she has been working on her promotion. She succesfully completed the course ‘Big data for the financial branche’ and she managed to get her level of English to C1. On a daily basis, Lieke is responsible for incoming bookings and reservations via the website. She does not have contact with customers or partners, but she sure likes to talk about her work with her family. In her sparetime she plays volleyball and tennis. Lieke’s personality can be described as a cheerfull, smart and indepent women. She takes her job pretty serious and likes to think that KLM is the more elite airline compared with others.

In 2014 KLM got an award for redefining its flight search. KLM used persona’s to gain insight in the different types of user needs when it comes to travel orientation (awards.ixda.org, 2014). Different personas were needed for this model. They were created randomly.

16 17

Persona customers

Ivo (24) is a student who likes to go on holidays with his friends. Every year his parents pay for his ticket as long as he pays for the rest of his vacation. He is living on his own in Utrecht where he is studying architecture. In his sparetime he works as a DJ in several bars and he likes to work out in the gym. He also uses social media frequently, especially when he is going on a holiday. He likes to let his followers know where he is going to party that summer. His goal is to be a famous DJ and tour around the world. When he is flying with his friends he is the one who is booking the flight and hotel, but he hopes that eventually he will get an assistant who can do that for him when he is famous.

Persona partners

Nicolle (40) is an employee of KLM’s partners. She works for Hanos as the logistic manager. She has contact with the logistic manager of KLM on a daily basis. Together they have to manage the food and beverage supply of all the airplanes. She has been working for Hanos for more than 15 years and since 5 years she is the logistic manager. Since she got her promotion she had 3 incidents of misplaced orders with KLM, of which 1 she is to blame. Luckily, all 3 incidents were resolved within a week. Together with her boyfriend Edu she loves to travel. They are going on a holiday every three months and always fly with KLM. Mostly because Nicolle knows the food on board is good. Nicolle is a very serious women who likes her privacy, she can be very strict but she is also down to earth and doesn’t care for money.

18 19

4.3 Branches

Stakeholders

The communication means of the stakeholders of KLM are visualized in the three on the right page. As you can see KLM has only a few communication means which could use improvement. However, in the analyse of the vision, it has been stated that the vision of KLM needs some work as well. After that KLM needs to analyse its communication means again. In this case the communication means are analysed with the vision as it is currently on the website. Employees

On its website it has a page for people who wants to work at KLM. Here they describe, in general, what KLM offers and what they expect from future employees. One of their keywords is flexibility. They are very clear about that on this particular page; ‘in our branch flexibility is very important. From our employees we expect them to have a flexible attitude. This way we can divide the work load evenly during peak hours.’ (KLM, 2014). This piece of information gives KLM its first green leave.

To stay smarter than the rest and to keep its reliability and efficient way of working, KLM offers education and traineeships to its employees. In time and if the time is right, there are possibilities to change careers within KLM. This touch point gives KLM another green leave.

Another key factor for KLM is safety, not only the safety of its customers but also of the employees. With intensive communication, employees are constantly reminded about their safety and those around them. In addition KLM invests in new technologies and tools to make the work for employees safer and healthier. Which also corresponds with the vision of KLM, which gives KLM its third green leave.

The newspaper stated that KLM is cutting back on the salary of its pilots. In return the pilots want stocks, improved distribution of profits and a membership of the commission of the parents company Air France - KLM. If KLM decides to do this, then it does correspond with its mission to be a good employer. Apparently this arrangement will benefit the company and the pilots. It will save jobs and save the company (Jong, 2015). For now it is unclear what KLM is going to do with this, so this touch point will be coloured orange, until further notice.

18 19

Doelgroep

By merging together with AirFrance and a network of other airlines, KLM can be the number one choice for its customers. One other strong suit KLM has, is social media. By responding on every tweet or Facebook message, within 26 minutes, it is really making its vision statement come true. Unfortunate for KLM, social media is also a good tool for customers to share their complaints. For instance, customers claim that KLM has swapped their seats for other travellers who had a delay. These complaints do not correspond with the behaviour KLM claims to have and these complaints will definitely not help with making KLM number one choice. So this branch has to be coloured orange.

Through many different campaigns, KLM tries to offer every traveller a different experience. Besides that it also focuses on technological development, so that it can offer modern products to its first green leave among its customers. Partners of KLM

KLM has a lot of partners listed on their website and they also offer affiliate programs.

• Aeroflot • Vietnam Airlines

• AirEuropa • Mea

• China Airlines • Kenya Airways

• Czech airlines • China Southern

• Saudia • Alitalla

• Xiamenair • AeroMexico

• AerolineasArgentinas • Garuda Indonesia

• Airfrance • Tarom

• China Eastern • Korean air

• Delta

For this example we are going to look at Air France. In 2003 KLM merged with Air France. To prevent any troubles to occur during the fusion, they hired an international consultancy group to make the process go easier. The consultancy group did a culture scan at both airlines and in February 2004 gave advice about the differences between Air France and KLM, the bottlenecks and the risks. Their solution was to give the employees, who were going to work directly with the fusing partner; workshops where the awareness of the cultural differences was highlighted.

20 21

Besides the workshops KLM also invest in two other initiatives. The first one is the exchange program between young potentials. For two years ten KLM Junior managers and ten Air France Junior Managers swapped places. At the end of this period they together wrote down their experiences and made a manual called ‘Cultural Navigator’. This touch point is a good example of how KLM wants to educate its employees and gives KLM a green leave in this branch.

The second initiative was training for a few hundred senior managers and high potentials. These trainings were two times five days, where employees of KLM and Air France would get an attitude-changing program. By working this way during this merge, it kept its own mission and vision, but they focused primarily on learning to work together (Noorderhaven, N.D.). KLM really showed its core value, flexibility and still kept its other core values. This solution is worth another green leave.

20 21

Pain points

Pain points/ chance – What can be improved?

Paint point 1

According to the Bloom model the vision of a company should describe why a company exists. KLM describes in its vision about what it wants to be and eventually achieve as a company, but KLM does not show in its vision the reason why KLM exists. With a result that the company does not know why it is doing what it does and the stakeholders; employees, customers and partners have no possibility to trust in the true believes of KLM. That is why we think KLM should rewrite its vision according to the Bloom-model and spread the vision to its branches to get a better image.

Pain point 2

The mission of KLM describes their behaviour but it also describes targets. Which according to the Bloom-model does not supposed to be in a mission. This results in a mission that is unclear for the stakeholders of KLM. That why we think that KLM needs to adjust its mission in a way that only describes its behavior and says something about how it is going to achieve the vision.

Pain point 3

Another example about the mission of KLM is the fact that people are complaining on social media about the behavior of KLM. For example, KLM said to travellers that their flight had been canceled, but it appeared that KLM changed the seats with travellers who were delayed. This does not match with its mission. According to the Bloom model, every touchpoint should be a representation of the core values and thus the vision and mission of KLM. We recommend that KLM thinks about how it handles the compaints of its customers.

Chance

Due to the situation with the pilots, we saw a chance for KLM to enhance the vision of KLM with its employees. If KLM enhances the vision among its employees, this will also result in an enhanced vision among customers and partners.

5

22 23

Mutual conclusions and recommondations

Our conclusion is that KLM is not using its strong suit. KLM is the oldest airline in the world and it wants to grow and develope the aviator branche. That is not what it is focusing on in its vision. Ofcourse, there is a need to keep its shareholders happy and make a profit, but is that also something that makes the heart beat of KLM go faster? KLM has to talk about what it believes in, so that its customers know what to believe in when they choose to fly with KLM.

We recommend that KLM rewrites its vision and with that its mission and think about how it is going to represent that vision in its communication means to its stakeholders.

Conclusions & recommondations

6

22 23

Implementation

7.1 Nicolle – pain point 1: The vision of the company does not describe why the company exists. According to the Bloom-model the vision of a company should describe why a company exists. A vision gives a visionary and ambitious idea of what an organization believes in. If we analyse the vision of KLM we cannot find the reason why the company exists. For now it is more a describing of what it wants and how it is going to achieve this. With a result that the company does not know why it is doing what it does and the stakeholders, employees, customers and partners have no possibility to trust in the true believes of KLM. That is why we think KLM should rewrite its vision by using the Bloom-model and spread the vision to its branches to get a better image. By looking to our model the vision of KLM has some elements of a mission and lacks a strong vision why it exists.

To create a stronger vision KLM should start with the main question ‘Why do we exist?’ The four questions according to the Bloom-model can help KLM to answer this main question;

1. What developments (economic, sociological, technical, political) do we want to help develop or stop (if they are bad developments)?

2. What do we want to change for the future?

3. What ambitions do we have in the long term?

4. What core competence, do we need to develop for the future, to achieve the above?

To get a better idea we will take a look at current vision of KLM;

‘KLM wants to be at the front of the industry by being smarter than the rest. By merging with Air France KLM has come to occupy a leading position in the international airline industry. KLM wants to be the customers’ first choice, to be an attractive employer for its staff and, a company that grows profitably for its shareholders. With smart partnerships and pioneering new destinations, KLM offers global access through its extensive network. By responding to market opportunities and technological developments, KLM offers customers a contemporary product.’ (KLM)

7

24 25

In overall the question why the company exists is not answered in this vision. For example what really lacks is the reason why it was founded. Namely, to serve the Netherlands and its colonies. KLM needs to use the four questions to find out what it believes in today. Furthermore, some sentences of the current vision has the features of a mission and should be changed or replaced to create the why in the vision. For example the sentences ‘with smart partnerships and pioneering new destinations, KLM offers global access through its extensive network. By responding to market opportunities and technological developments, KLM offers customers a contemporary product.’ describes its behaviour instead of why it exists.

If KLM should reflect its organization with the BLOOM model, it can create a better vision and in total a better and stronger image. With a clear vision, the company will not only have a better view on why it exists and what it believes as an organization, but it would also give the consumer a clear idea. When the consumer will recognize the vision of KLM, the possibility is bigger that the consumer will believe and trust in the company. The customer has to feel the vision in every step the company takes. This results in brand loyalty and a better image of KLM.

Concept carrier communication mean ‘campaigns’

After creating a strong vision you need to show it to the customers. In order to let the consumer believe in the vision of KLM, you need to bring the vision in a creative way to the consumer. Communicate in a way the consumer does not expect it. A campaign on the airport offers the opportunity to show the vision features in personal contact with the consumer. Make clear why you exist and the reason why you handle the way you do. Why it makes the consumer want to choose and believe in KLM.

For example a campaign called ‘Royal throne’ is a way to show a part of the vision to the consumer. KLM describes in its vision that it wants to be the costumer’s first choice and in this campaign there is the chance to show them why it wants that! Customer service is important for KLM and the consumer has to feel it. If you want that the consumer to choose you as their first choice, you have to put them on your royal throne. Let them feel special and show them how you, as KLM, treat them as your loyal customer.

24 25

Explanation of fit

A campaign focussed on the vision would fit perfectly for KLM. The company is known for making campaigns that went viral, but if KLM would spread its vision with it, that would make the image of KLM so much stronger. If a consumer understands the believes of KLM, it will gain more loyalty towards KLM. KLM wants to be the first choice of the consumer, but in order to let that happen it needs to create trust by showing who KLM is and why it exists. Before creating a vision campaign, a target group has to be determined. It is important to focus on a specific group that will fit with the part of the vision you want to show in the campaign. If we take the campaign ‘Royal throne’, the target group are the customers who fly often with KLM. These people already trust KLM, because they have chosen KLM several times above other airline companies. In this campaign KLM can show this target group that it appreciates that they chose KLM in the past and treat them like a royal consumer, with a result that they will choose KLM again in the future. Make them stay with the number one airline of the Netherlands. A campaign like Royal throne fits with the corporate identity of KLM. It has royalty in its name and logo, so it would fit perfectly with the company.

26 27

Persona storytelling

Mark is a 39-year-old businessman who travels often for work with KLM. It is a Thursday morning and Mark goes like every Thursday to the company’s meeting. There they decide that it should be wise to meet with their partners in Germany. After the meeting Mark goes to his desk and searches for a flight that he needs. Because he often flies with KLM for business trips he books a flight with KLM. After he booked his flight, he immediately receives a confirmation E-mail of KLM with a special ticket. In the E-mail KLM called Mark a lord and made the vow that it will serve its lord what he is worth. Mark feels that KLM really appreciates him that he booked a flight with its company and with this special ticket and title he is venerated. The next Friday Mark is on his way to the airport. He is really nervous and excited what the vow of KLM will mean. Mark pays the cap and walks inside the airport, curious. He walks to the check-in desk and from that moment he gets overwhelmed with the royal service of the employees. In the airplane they guide Mark to his seat. But what he did not know is that his special ticket is valuable for the special seat in the airplane; the Royal throne! On this moment Mark really feels like he is a Royal member and enjoys everything that happens. The employees treat him the whole way to Germany like he is their royal costumer. In the cap on his way to his German partners, Mark is so excited that he post on Facebook how KLM treated him this day and says that KLM is his first choice! Once arrived at the company, he also recommends KLM to his German partners when they talk about planning an appointment in the Netherlands. A few days later Mark checks his Facebook page and sees he has been tagged in a video of KLM. Full of joy he watches this after movie and he feels the service of KLM all over again. Because he really appreciates the service of KLM he shares the video on his page and all his friends can watch his special experience with KLM.

26 27

Explanation touch pointsThe three touch points that the customer Mark has with the campaign are:

Touch point 1

Pre exposure: After Mark booked his flight; he received a confirmation e-mail containing a special ticket, because he flies often with KLM. Sending the consumer a special ticket and speak on a special way to them results in that the consumer will feel special and glad that he booked with KLM. Besides that he will go with a positive vibe towards the airport.

Touch point 2

Direct exposure: When Mark arrived at the airport he got in touch with the campaign on the airport. Personal contact is an important way to communicate your vision. The consumer will experience the vision of the company by seeing and feeling it in real life and because of the special treatment the consumer feels valued. The current costumer has a big social life and the chance that the consumer will share an experience like this with their friends is enormously high.

Touch point 3

Post exposure: A few days after the campaign, Mark is been tagged in the after movie that is made of the campaign. Showing the campaign afterwards online has the effect that Mark will get a reminder of this special day and the feelings that it gave him. Besides that all the other consumers will get in touch with the campaign as well.

28 29

Moodboard

28 29

7.2 Lieke - Pain point 2: Mission describes goals not only course of action and behaviour.

The mission of KLM

With Air France, KLM is at the forefront of the European airline industry. Offering reliability and a healthy dose of Dutch pragmatism. 32,000 KLM employees work to provide innovative products for our customers and a safe, efficient, service-oriented operation with a proactive focus on sustainability. KLM strives to achieve profitable growth that contributes to both its own corporate aims and to economic and social development.

KLM works to create sustainable growth at Schiphol, to gain access to any market that will increase the quality its network and to maintain a level playing field for all industry players. It also works to ensure a balance between the company’s interests and those of the people living and working close to the airport. (KLM)

How is KLM going to make the mission come true? The mission, by some companies called the mission statement, defines the behaviour of an organization.

According to the BLOOM model KLM should describe how it will achieve the vision in its mission. KLM now has goals in its mission, but this information should not be mentioned in the mission. KLM mentions that the company is efficient, safe and service oriented, this does say something about how its going to achieve the vision with its behaviour. Another example is that KLM is reliable and wants to work with Dutch pragmatism. At the current mission KLM has very clearly stated objectives. In the future, the objectives and mission can be divided into several points to avoid ambiguities. This way KLM will have a good balance. In order to apply the best possible improvement KLM will have to work on its touch points. The touch point is an advertising spot to show the strengths of KLM.

KLM will show through an advertising spot what behaviour it wants to convey. Also its mission will be displayed via the movie. The mission is that it wants to secure efficient and service oriented proceed, this can be seen in an excellent advertising commercial.

30 31

Concept carrier

The concept carrier for KLM should be an advertisment on television.

KLM describes in its mission that 32,000 KLM employees work to provide innovative products for its customers and a safe, efficient, service-oriented operation with a proactive focus on sustainability. KLM shows that it wants to do everything for the consumers. Via this advertisment KLM gets the opportunity to show what it can do for its clients. This concept carrier is completely dominated by the consumer. It is important for KLM that the communication of the mission must be clearly reflected by the consumer. Targetgroup and vision

The target group for this report is for the business people who fly frequently. These people want everything for them to be regulated. KLM flies to almost all countries in the world and it is service-oriented as it describes in its mission. KLM is organized and therefore many businessmen fly with KLM. It is also about empowering people happy and showing that KLM is ready for customers and therefore fits well with this target group and this vision. Touch point

There will be three touch points processed to acquaint the audience with the message of KLM. Pim is a businessman of 35 years old. The day before Pim and his family are leaving on a holiday, Pim is sitting on the couch. They will fly business class to make the flight more enjoyable for the children. Pim suddenly sees an advertisement of KLM about the service, safety and efficiency for customers. Pim is immediately starts thinking and wonders whether the next day he and his family will also be treated good. He posts a tweet on Twitter with #KLM about the movie that inspired him and says that tomorrow he will fly with KLM.

The next day they drive with lots of bags to Schiphol. Pim sees a big billboard pass along the way saying why KLM employees assist passengers. On that moment Pim’s mind triggered and remembers the TV commercial of last night. Once arrived at Schiphol Pim and his family are approached by KLM staff. The employees want to convey the essence of the TV commercial on the family of Pim. Pim told the employees that they helped them excellent at the check-in desk. He gets a flyer as confirm that the core is clear by the customers from the employees of KLM.

Touchpoint 1 - Pre-exposure: advertising on television

Touchpoint 2 - Direct-exposure: billboard advertising

Touchpoint 3 - Post-exposure: personal approach + flyer

30 31

32 33

7.3 Ivo - Pain point 3: The vision does not match with how KLM acts in real life towards to customer.

In the vision KLM explains that it wants to be the first choice of the customer. But for example, recent posts on social media show that KLM had other priorities. Customers complain more often about the oldest airplane company in the world.

For example:

This recent post of Nicky Romero, who had a reach of more than 5 million people, shows that KLM lied towards its passengers about their flight. There is no information about why the flight cancelled, because KLM knew that it had make a mistake and it needed to hide it from the customers.

32 33

It is important to be honest towards your customers, so a passenger can understand the situation. When a passenger finds out that KLM was lying, the confidence is gone. Be honest towards your passengers and they will feel special and you will be their first choice next time.

In the BLOOM-model you can see that the vision is the core of the model. This is the most important part of the model. So it is important to start with a solid core, where people can rely on.

Touchpoint To show consumers that they are important for KLM, KLM developed a new website. A website with a main focus on complaints. The complaints will be shown here by ground much faster. The main goal is that the consumer is helped faster and satisfied and can continue its journey. Another goal is that there are less complaints on social media. On social media KLM has no control, everyone can read it and comment on the complain. By responding to the handling of complaints, consumers will also feel more appreciated. When there is a delay or cancellation, KLM staff will be available to help direct the consumer and if necessary refer to the relevant website. By means of a flyer the website will be more explained. On Social media consumers will be personal approached to try to solve the problem quickly. When the problem is solved the consumer will be informed about the web site for future complaints. When the consumer is satisfied he will receive an email with questions to improve the handling of complaints and a thank them for their confidence in KLM.

Touch point 1 à Direct-exposure: personal approach + flyer

Touch point 2 à Direct-exposure: social media approach

Touch point 3 à Post-exposure: personal contact by e-mail

34 35

Persona

Freek(45) is a DJ who needs to travel a lot for work. Every month he travels more than six times with the services of KLM. Because Freek has a well paid job, he uses the business class, so therefore he expects a good service of KLM. This weekend he has gig in London. Freek arrives at Schiphol around 17:00, and he has plenty of time before his flight leaves, which departs at 19:30. Freeks gig is at 00:30, so he has enough time to relax. Just before take off an employees tells Freek that the plane is overbooked and that Freek can not go to London on this flight. Freek gets angry, and wants to talk to someone of KLM. An employee of KLM tries to calm him down and explains the situation. The employee tries to get Freek back in plane, she wants a satisfied customers and it is her job to make sure of it. In consultation with KLM Freek can continue his journey to London, Freek is very satisfied with the speed of handling of the problem. The employee gives Freek a flyer with more information about how KLM tries to tackle complaints. A few days later Freek receives an email from KLM. KLM once again apologize for the inconvenience and asked if everything was okay in the end. The email refers to the new KLM website that is set up for handling complaints. Freek surfs to the website is very satisfied with what he sees. Freek fills in the survey in that rates the website, he gives a KLM a 9.

34 35

36 37

7.4 Eva - ChanceDescription concept carrier

According to the Bloom-model it is very important for a company to have a strong base (vision and mission) and to make sure that its base is represented in its communication means. To communicate its base towards its employees, I suggest that KLM starts a campaign with ambasssadors. These ambassadors are nominated by KLM because they know why they love to work for KLM and they have an influence on their colleague’s motivation. They are also very good in representing this vision and mission towards the customers. I think it is a good idea to let the ambassadors motivate their colleagues instead of managers or other people from managing level. I also think that these ambassadors should be allowed to reward other collegeas who are extraordinary in their way of working, to keep the spirit up among other employees. Explanation of fit

I think this will work at KLM because it is such a big company. There are probably lots of managers, but there are even more employees. I read in a article that some employees have the ‘blue’ feeling as they describe their pride about their work. But the ones that don’t, need a little more motivation. With such a big company it would be wiser to involve ambassadors then try to ‘manage’ the motivation.

36 37

Persona storytelling

Jan is 43 and started to work for KLM when he was 18. His father and grandfather also worked at KLM for more than 40 years. He is very proud of the fact that his whole family has worked at KLM and he hopes his son will get a job at KLM aswell. When he applied for a job there wasn’t any website yet, but now his son is applying and together they read the page for future employees. He also read things he didn’t knew about. For example that their is a gym where employees can work out and improve on their health. When he goes to work the next day, he notifies his manager about the fact that he didn’t knew and doesn’t think other employees of his age know. The manager explains how it works and also thanks him for notifying him about this. The manager tells Jan about the new campaign they are working on and asks Jan if he wants to be an ambassador. Jan would love to be an ambassador. His manager explains what he has to do and tells him that if he has any more good ideas he can always stop by. After that meeting Jan tells his colleagues about the other possibilties, such as the gym. One of his colleagues says he does not care about the gym, he says he rather gets more salary. So Jan reminds him that it is important to stay healthy and that it is very nice of KLM that it is offering this possibility. ‘It is not like it is required to do so’, he says. A few days later the manager comes to Jan and asks him if he has been talking about the gym opportunity with his colleagues. Jan confirms and the manager thanks him again. The gym owner told the manager that there were 100 more employees than normal and the manager thinks this is because of what Jan said to his colleagues. As a reward for the whole crew that they were thinking about their health, the manager promises them to organise a little get-together at the end of the month. Again Jan tells his colleagues and everybody is enthusiastic. At the get-together the manager gives a little speech about how gratefull is he is to manage such a great team and how happy he is that KLM is going so well. During the evening everyone is having a nice time and laughing about stupid things that went wrong during work.

38 39

Explanation of touchpoints

The three touchpoints are:

- The website

- Meeting with the manager

- Employees get-together

Pre-exposure: On the website future employees can read what the KLM has to offer for them. In this case it also informed Jan, because he didn’t knew this yet. This triggered him to help KLM to improve its service towards its employees.

Direct exposure: After Jan discovered that there are more possibilities then he knew, he informed his boss. To let him know that this information is not something that everyone knows. His manager uses this moment to thank Jan for thinking along. This way he is rewarding Jan for his positive attitude.

Post exposure: And with the last touchpoint the company can use the party to thank its employees for their hard work. This will make its employees feel more respected and they remember again why they like to work for KLM.

38 39

40 41

Sources

Sources

(2014). Retrieved januari 14, 2015, from awards.ixda.org: http://awards.ixda.org/entry/2014/klm-redefined-flight-search/

Jong, Y. d. (2015, januari 13). Retrieved januari 15, 2015, from fd.nl: http://fd.nl/economie-politiek/1088258/piloten-mede-eigenaar-klm-in-ruil-voor-salaris

Klm, 2014. Page: Workforce. Consulted on: https://www.klm.com/csr/nl/workforce/employer/index.html

Landewe, C., N.D. Consulted on: http://www.communicatiecoach.com/branding/het-hoe-wat-waarom-van-een-huisstijl-1/

Metz, F., 2011. Consulted on: http://kpvv-reisgedrag.blogspot.nl/2011/08/de-4-ps-waarom-marketing-en-branding.html

Noorderhaven, N., Kroon, D., Timmers, A., N.D. KLM na de fusie met Air France, Cultuurverandering in het perifere gezichtsveld. Consulted on: http://www.sioo.nl/files_content/pdf%27s/artikelen/Bedrijfsstudie_Cultuurverandering_KLM.pdf

8

40 41