KLM rolls out Birmingham Know How training programe

Mar 29 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post

Moseley-based creative agency KLM is rolling out its free training programme for local businesses and organisations that deal with visitors to the city.

The scheme, called Birmingham Know How, will provide frontline staff with more knowledge about the city and build employees’ confidence in sharing information and making recommendations to visitors.

Birmingham Know How, which is funded by Marketing Birmingham and Advantage West Midlands, aims to help the city deliver an even more positive and memorable experience for the 32 million people who visit each year.

Following a successful pilot scheme last Spring which attracted delegates from organisations like Cadbury World, Costa Coffee, the ICC, Sea Life Centre and Birmingham Hippodrome, demand for the new programme is high.

Around 70 organisations are already participating including Simpsons Restaurant, Birmingham University, The NEC Group, New Street Station, Birmingham International Airport, Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Radisson SAS, Monsoon, Pizza Express, Aston Villa and Birmingham City football clubs.

The scheme’s rollout comes as KLM is celebrating three new and very different pieces of business.

KLM’s expertise in channel marketing recently secured the agency additional work with soft drinks giant Britvic. The digital side of the agency will also we working with the annual Birmingham food showcase Taste of Birmingham.

The agency is also working with the Church of England, responding to a brief by the Diocese of Birmingham, Hereford, Lichfield and Worcester, to create an integrated mid-Spring campaign to promote church weddings to people planning to get married this year.

KLM creative director Gary Setchell said: “We have to change the mindset of people who, for whatever reason, may feel hypocritical about wanting a traditional church wedding if they don’t attend regularly on Sunday mornings.”