Tag: interactive installation

KLM Connecting Seats

Airports are crowded with people from different backgrounds. This Christmas, KLM brings them together with Connecting Seats. Two seats that translate every language in real time, so people with different cultures, world views, and languages can understand each other.

The experience design move

KLM does not try to tell a holiday message. It creates a small, human interaction in a high-friction environment. You sit down. You speak normally. The barrier between strangers is reduced by the seat itself.

By turning translation into the interface, the seat makes the first move feel low-risk, which is why the interaction reads as human rather than branded.

The real question is how you turn a crowded, anonymous moment into a safe reason for two strangers to interact.

In global travel hubs, social friction, not language, is what keeps strangers from talking.

Why this works as a Christmas idea

Christmas campaigns often rely on film and sentiment. This one uses participation. Here, participation means travelers completing the message by talking with a stranger, not passively watching a story. That is a stronger holiday move than another sentimental film. It makes connection visible and gives the brand a role that feels practical rather than promotional.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a brand to stand for connection, design a micro-interaction that reduces first-move risk, and let participants create the meaning.

The pattern to steal

If you want to create brand meaning in public spaces, this is a strong structure:

  • Start with tension. Pick a real-world tension people already feel (crowded, anonymous, culturally mixed spaces).
  • Add a simple intervention. Introduce a small change that shifts behaviour in the moment.
  • Let interaction carry the message. Let the interaction do the work, not a slogan.

A few fast answers before you act

What are KLM Connecting Seats?

Two seats designed to translate language in real time, so strangers can understand each other.

Where does this idea make sense operationally?

In airports and other transient spaces where people from different backgrounds sit near each other but rarely interact.

What is the core brand outcome?

A memorable, lived proof of “bringing people together,” delivered through an experience rather than a claim.

What makes this different from a typical holiday film?

It shifts the message from storytelling to doing. The brand creates the conditions for connection, then travelers complete the meaning through the interaction.

How can a non-airline brand use the same structure?

Find a public setting where strangers share waiting time, introduce a simple prompt that lowers the first-move risk, and let the interaction carry the message.

Norwegian Airlines: Red Cab Remote Taxi

A shopper in an Oslo mall steps up to a big screen and “hails” a cab in New York City. Seconds later, they are effectively riding along in real time, steering what they see and getting a guided tour from someone inside the taxi.

Remote sightseeing as a route launch

Norwegian Airlines creates an interactive experience that lets visitors in an Oslo shopping mall control a New York City taxi in real time. A tour guide inside the cab helps participants discover New York while building awareness of Norwegian’s direct long-haul destinations from Oslo to New York, Miami, LA, San Francisco, and Bangkok.

The mechanism: viewer control, live feed, human guide

The activation is built like a two-way window. A live camera setup in the taxi transmits the streets of New York back to the mall installation, and mall visitors can influence what they are seeing while talking with the person in the cab who keeps the “tour” moving. Here, viewer control means the participant can steer the camera’s attention and request what the cab shows next. That matters because even light control makes the experience feel personal, which turns passive watching into active participation.

It is also described as an M&C Saatchi Stockholm idea with production support from Stopp, using a 360-degree style camera approach to make the feed feel explorable rather than like a fixed livestream.

In European airline marketing, real-time remote experiences can make new long-haul routes feel tangible before anyone commits to a flight.

Why this lands

This works because it turns a schedule update into a lived moment. People do not just hear “we fly direct.” They experience the destination, live, in a way that creates an instant story to tell. The red cab visual also keeps the brand present throughout the interaction without needing heavy-handed messaging.

Extractable takeaway: When you are launching access (routes, coverage, delivery zones, service areas), design a live, controllable preview that lets people feel the place or outcome, then attach the brand benefit as the enabler of that experience.

What Norwegian is really buying

The stunt earns attention like an event, but it is strategically a conversion tool. It reduces psychological distance to long-haul travel by giving people a low-friction “trial,” and it reframes the airline as a bridge between cities rather than as a price-and-seat product.

The real question is whether a route launch can make distance feel emotionally short before the first booking happens.

What to steal from Red Cab

  • Turn claims into access. If your promise is reach, let people sample the reach.
  • Use a human guide. A live host makes the experience coherent, warm, and watchable.
  • Design for the crowd. Make the installation entertaining for bystanders, not just the participant.
  • Make the brand a prop. The red cab functions as an always-on brand cue without interrupting the experience.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Norwegian Red Cab?

It is a mall-based interactive installation where people in Oslo can explore New York City through a live taxi connection, with a guide inside the cab.

What does “control the taxi” mean here?

It refers to viewer control over the live viewing experience, such as directing the camera perspective and interacting with the person in the cab, rather than physically driving the vehicle.

Why is real-time important to the idea?

Because “live” removes doubt. It makes the destination feel present, which strengthens the message that direct long-haul routes bring far-away places closer.

What makes this more than a livestream?

The combination of viewer control and a human tour guide turns passive watching into an experience people can participate in and retell.

What’s the main operational risk with this pattern?

Reliability. If latency, audio, or camera control fails, the magic breaks quickly, so technical robustness matters as much as the creative concept.

Quilmes: Mitigol

Quilmes and their agency +Castro reinvented the classic game of foosball. In its new version they enabled Argentinians and Brazilians to play each other in real time through a custom made digital foosball table.

Dubbed “Mitigol”, the activation turns foosball into a cross-border live match. One half of the table was placed in Argentina and the other half in Brazil. During the game, players could see their opponent via special in-built video cameras that further enhanced the real time experience of the game. As a prize, Quilmes gave away free beer.

How Mitigol works

The mechanism is a physical game with a digital bridge. A custom table syncs the ball and player movement across distance, while embedded cameras add face-to-face presence so it feels like a real match rather than a remote demo.

In sports and event-led marketing, shared-play installations can turn rivalry into participation because they give fans something to do together, not just something to watch.

Why it lands

This works because it makes a national rivalry tangible without needing a screen-first experience. Foosball already has competitive tension built in, so the cross-border connection raises the stakes instantly. The cameras then do the emotional work by proving the opponent is real, right now, reacting in real time.

Extractable takeaway: When you want “real time” to feel meaningful, do not rely on the word. Add one physical interaction that people already understand, then layer in live presence so the distance becomes the headline.

What Quilmes is really buying

The real question is how to turn passive rivalry into a shared act people want to join.

Beyond novelty, Mitigol is a closeness story. It borrows the energy of an event moment and converts it into a branded experience where the fan is the performer, not the spectator. The prize is just the nudge that keeps the line moving and the competition sharp.

What to steal from Mitigol

  • Start with a familiar game. If the rules are known, participation spikes.
  • Make distance visible. The split-table concept is the idea. Do not hide it.
  • Add live presence. Cameras or live feedback make “remote” feel human.
  • Reward the behavior you want. Small, immediate prizes keep throughput high.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Mitigol?

It is a custom foosball table experience that connects two locations so players in different countries can play the same match in real time.

Why split the table across Argentina and Brazil?

Because the physical split makes the cross-border rivalry concrete. It is instantly legible as “we are playing each other right now”.

What role do the built-in cameras play?

They add live presence and reaction, which makes the experience feel like a real opponent rather than a remote simulation.

What is the simplest way to copy the principle?

Take a familiar physical activity, connect it across distance with tight synchronization, then add a live human layer so the interaction feels personal.

What should you measure for an activation like this?

Participation volume, repeat play, dwell time, and how often spectators convert into players once they see it in action.