KLM boosts ROAS with a first-of-its-kind Pinterest flight ads solution

Challenge

In a busy travel market, the next opportunity can call for a different route. Always looking ahead, KLM and dentsu are continually exploring new sales opportunities and fresh ways to cut through the competition, capture the attention of travel shoppers and ultimately drive more web conversions.

That forward-thinking approach brought KLM and dentsu to Pinterest. People are already using the platform to plan their next trip, giving the airline a valuable place in the planning journey. KLM could reach travellers as they dreamed, discovered and decided where to go next.

While wanderlust took hold and travellers curated their wishlists, the question was: how could KLM catch them at the perfect moment? That sparked an idea. The airline wanted to bring its flight offerings directly into Pinterest’s Travel Catalogs. There was a small catch: Travel Catalogs had historically been built for hotels and accommodation, not airlines.

Rather than seeing this as a limitation, KLM, dentsu and Pinterest embraced the challenge. Together, they set out to bring flight inventory into Travel Catalogs for the first time, creating a new way to connect travel inspiration with booking intent.

Solution

KLM, dentsu and Pinterest collaborated to create a new solution that brought flight inventory into Pinterest Travel Catalogs for the first time.

Pinterest's product and engineering teams adapted the catalog infrastructure to accommodate airline-specific data, enabling routes, fares and destination information to be dynamically integrated into catalog placements.

Using Pinterest Shopping ads, KLM and dentsu transformed its flight inventory into dynamic ads tailored to travellers' interests and destination preferences. Each ad combined inspirational destination imagery with relevant routes and fare information, creating a more seamless path from travel inspiration to booking consideration.

To maximise performance, KLM also leveraged Pinterest Performance+, which automated campaign optimisation and helped improve efficiency at scale.

This is also a great example of strong collaboration, with KLM bringing strategic vision, travel expertise and inventory, dentsu contributing strategic leadership and media capabilities, and Pinterest providing product and engineering innovation to unlock a new solution for the travel category.