By selling the dream of Berlin rather than the cheap Berlin Lufthansa wanted to grab an emotional advantage on the competitive Stockholm-Berlin Route.

Playing off Swedes love for the city, we offered up one free new life including a one-way ticket, a prepaid apartment and everything you needed to start fresh. The catch? You had to prove your dedication by legally changing your name to Klaus-Heidi, a gender-bender double name fit for the modern Berliner.

The challenge was launched through an integrated campaign with digital, direct and PR, but no bought media. Klaus-Heidi made headlines in The Economist, Spiegel, Huffington Post, Russia Today, Fox and many others: reaching over 240 million impressions. During its peak it stood for 25 % of mentions of Lufthansa’s brand in social media globally.

42 Swedes changed their names. 41 had to settle for a VIP Lufthansa Silver Card. The winner Klaus-Heidi Andersson got an official welcome from Berlin's Mayor, who coincidently, is named Klaus.

Nobody knows Berlin like Lufthansa does and it makes sense to fly with a German airline to Berlin, but in Sweden the airline is bottom-of-mind. So we needed something fun, engaging and crazy. Putting the target groups supposed love for Berlin to the test, we created a challenge that put the consumer’s own name and identity in the wager. What is a new life in Berlin worth? This was the simple question at the heart of the direct campaign. By providing one daring Swede with a whole new life Lufthansa became the enabler, the spark, the inspiration and the topic.

A simple dare that according to the Economist sounded like “a bar bet” became an international success. Lufthansa sold out an Airbus 319 based on sales from the site. 1,100 people downloaded the name-change-application. 42 Swedes changed their name to Klaus-Heidi. 41 got a VIP-card with 10,000 points, the winner got a welcome from Berlins Mayor. The campaign got 240 million impressions, made headlines in 30 countries and was a re-occurring topic on Swedish national TV. During its peak it stood for 25% of Lufthansa’s mentions in social media globally and was the main driver to Lufthansa.com behind Google.