Claim Your Place In Space
- Brand
- KLM
- Year
- 2013
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Travel & Hospitality
- Mechanic
- Quiz & Trivia
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Tribal Worldwide
- With
- Rapp
- With
- MassiveMusic
- With
- Monks
Objective
KLM backed its partner Space Expedition Corporation's push into commercial suborbital space tourism from Curaçao, while using the stunt to cast the airline itself as pioneering and entrepreneurial. The brand also wanted buzz among frequent flyers (2+ trips a year) in its key markets, so the mechanic was built to spread through friends rather than media spend alone.
Solution
On klm.com/space, players first watch a short interactive film explaining the challenge: KLM is about to launch a real high-altitude balloon from Nevada's Black Rock Desert, and the goal is to call where it will burst. Players drag the balloon up a height scale to set their predicted bursting altitude, then tap a spot on a map to mark where they think it will have drifted to by that point. They lock in the entry via Facebook or email, then are nudged to invite friends — each friend's support "widens" their staked claim in the sky and improves their odds of winning. On launch day the same page flips into a live broadcast, with real GPS and camera feeds tracking the balloon until it pops; the closest prediction wins a trip for two to Curaçao, a hotel stay, and a seat on SXC's Lynx suborbital flight.
- 1
The player lands on klm.com/space and watches an interactive explainer describing the challenge: KLM will launch a high-altitude balloon from the Nevada desert, and predicting where it bursts wins a trip to space.
- 2
The player places a prediction by dragging a marker up an altitude scale to the height they think the balloon will burst, then picks a horizontal point on a map over the desert for where the balloon will drift by that time.
- 3
The player locks in the prediction by confirming it through Facebook or email, claiming a personal stake in the outcome.
- 4
The player can invite friends to back their prediction; each supporter enlarges the player's claimed patch of sky, improving their odds of matching the burst point.
- 5
On launch day the player returns to the site to watch the ascent live, following onboard camera footage and dual GPS trackers as the balloon rises.
- 6
At peak altitude the balloon bursts and its camera-and-GPS payload parachutes back down, fixing the final location that predictions are judged against.
- 7
The closest prediction wins a two-person trip to Curaçao with luxury hotel stay and a seat aboard SXC's Lynx suborbital spacecraft.
