To promote the new season of The Noite (a show hosted by one of Brasil’s most popular comedian), Publicis Brasil came up with a new button on YouTube. For the first time they created a campaign where people could choose between a “Skip Ad” and “Troll this ad” button. This tweak to the YouTube pre-roll ads resulted in 4 times more video views for the campaign.
You need a taxi. Instead of calling or using a dedicated app, you open WhatsApp, share your location, and place the order by message. Taxi Deutschland positions “WhatsApp Taxi” as a simple way to request a cab in major German cities using the behavior people already know. Messaging.
After years of public sharing and transparency on social media, people gravitate toward more intimate, private, and even anonymous ways to communicate. That shift boosts the popularity of messaging apps and ephemeral messaging. Chat apps become hubs for social networks, games, e-commerce, and more.
Taxi Deutschland launches a new service called “WhatsApp Taxi” that allows users in major German cities to order a taxi by simply sharing their location via a WhatsApp message. The interaction is reduced to one core input. Your location.
Just last week I wrote about how KLM was starting to use Facebook Messenger for customer service related queries and tasks. WhatsApp Taxi sits in the same movement. Utility shifts into the messaging layer, and the chat thread becomes the service surface.
What is WhatsApp Taxi?
A Taxi Deutschland service that lets users order a taxi via WhatsApp by sharing their location in a message.
Where does it work?
It is positioned for use in major German cities.
What is the core user action?
Send your location via WhatsApp message to initiate the taxi order.
Why is this a marketing and product signal?
It shows how messaging apps evolve from communication tools into utility layers where services can be initiated and managed.
What is the transferable lesson for brands?
If your service can be reduced to a small set of high-confidence inputs, messaging can become a low-friction interface that people already understand.
Facebook wants to transform their Messenger platform into an all-encompassing utility, where people will be able to conduct virtually any interaction, from buying products to paying bills to various other customer service related queries and tasks.
So together with KLM they have launched a new Messenger service. Travellers who book their flight on klm.com can now choose to receive booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding pass and flight status updates all via Facebook Messenger.
For further questions they can also contact KLM directly through the Messenger, 24/7.
This takes airline communication out of the inbox and into a channel people already use all day. The value is not novelty. The value is reduced friction. Fewer app logins, fewer email searches, fewer “where is my boarding pass” moments.
If Messenger becomes a place where you can transact, track, and solve problems, then brands that show up with real utility earn repeat usage. In this case, KLM turns Messenger into a travel companion, not a marketing channel.
The more predictable the updates, the more likely customers are to opt in, and the more valuable the channel becomes for both sides.
In service-heavy journeys like travel, messaging becomes valuable when it carries the essential trip artifacts and keeps help in the same thread.
A Messenger service that delivers booking confirmation, check-in notifications, boarding passes, and flight status updates for travellers who book on klm.com, with the option to contact KLM through Messenger 24/7.
Because it reduces friction. Customers receive timely information in a channel they already use, without searching email or opening an airline app repeatedly.
At its core it is customer service and trip management delivered through messaging. The key value is proactive updates plus the ability to ask questions in the same thread.
One continuous conversation that contains the essential trip artifacts. Confirmation, reminders, boarding pass, and live updates in a single place.
If you can deliver high-frequency, high-value updates through a messaging channel with clear opt-in, you can increase satisfaction by making the journey easier to manage.
