A new campaign by KesselsKramer uses handwritten local tips to guide Amsterdam’s visitors across the city toward the world-famous Stedelijk Museum.
Amsterdam has a high concentration of museums and cultural attractions. International tourists and Dutch day-trippers visiting the city have plenty of choice, but limited time and increasingly tighter budgets. So how do you make sure that, among all those options, no visitor leaves Amsterdam without experiencing world-class modern art?
Amidst the noise of endless possibilities, the Stedelijk has been the modern art museum in the Netherlands for 130 years, with a leading international reputation to match. In its newest campaign, developed together with Amsterdam agency KesselsKramer, the museum confidently claims that position while staying true to its Amsterdam roots. Because for Amsterdammers, the Stedelijk is their Stedelijk — and for generations, the place to experience modern art that changes the way you see the world.
By combining the campaign claim with handwritten advice — symbolising a local Amsterdammer sharing tips for the best places in their city — the campaign becomes a personal recommendation for a place you simply shouldn’t miss. The visual identity is direct, quirky and unmistakably Amsterdam.
When you’re visiting a city, there’s nothing more valuable than a recommendation from a local. We translated that insight directly into a campaign that helps people make a choice at the moment it matters most.”
Gijs van den Berg, Creative Director, KesselsKramer
We’re responding to the need both Dutch day-trippers and international visitors have for confidence in their choices. By combining local recommendations with visibility at key decision-making moments throughout the city, we’re not only guiding people to the museum, we’re also encouraging them to actually visit it.”
Darija Kalkan, Head of Marketing Communications, Stedelijk
The concept goes hand in hand with the media strategy: the message, presented as personal recommendations, changes depending on the location in which it appears, turning each execution into an actual set of directions. The campaign appears wherever visitors arrive and make choices: from Schiphol Airport arrivals and train stations, to the streets leading toward the museum, online, in hotels and hospitality venues. Everywhere, the campaign helps guide visitors through Amsterdam towards its destination.
In addition to location-specific out-of-home advertising, the campaign includes digital ads targeting international visitors and day-trippers. Through guerrilla marketing, such as beer coasters in local cafés, the message also appears in popular hospitality venues across the city.
The campaign was developed by KesselsKramer in collaboration with the team at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and runs across Amsterdam and online.
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is the Netherlands’ leading museum for modern and contemporary art and design. For more than 125 years, it has been a pioneer in the international art world, renowned for its groundbreaking exhibitions. With a world-class collection of more than 100,000 objects, the museum features works by artists including Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondriaan, Henri Matisse, Karel Appel, Helen Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Marlene Dumas, Rineke Dijkstra, Anne Imhof, El Anatsui and Igshaan Adams.
Through its “unbubble” positioning, the Stedelijk encourages visitors to step outside their familiar perspectives and choices, opening themselves up to new insights. This vision also forms the starting point for the campaign: by making local recommendations visible at crucial decision-making moments throughout the city, the campaign translates this philosophy into concrete behaviour. In this way, the museum helps visitors consciously make a different choice within an overwhelming abundance of options.
Find out more about Stedelijk Museum here.
