Saumya Tewari
Digital

Viral Now: Meet KLM's Canine Sherlock

The airlines spins out a cute campaign, featuring a Beagle, to announce the launch of a 'Lost and Found' service at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam.

Royal Dutch airline KLM's latest marketing campaign launching its 'Lost and Found' service gives you a healthy dose of cuteness. Executed by DDB & Tribal Worldwide, the video features an adorable beagle aptly named 'Sherlock' who helps the airline's Lost and Found team to return passenger's lost items.

The video opens with a shot of an airline's Ground service employee Chantal Kremer stating "Personally, I think he's a real asset to the company. And he can really do something, no one else can." The newly-launched service's team member Sandra List describes that their main goal is to return the lost item to the owner as fast as possible. They monitor social media and the crew checks the aircraft after every flight. "I like the fact that we are getting some help with that," she beams.

Viral Now: Meet KLM's Canine Sherlock
At this point, the adorable vest-wearing pup is introduced leading his way towards one of the air hostess who has found a phone in the flight. She makes him sniff the gadget and puts it in his vest's pocket. All charged up, Sherlock makes his way to the concourse to literally sniff out rightful owners after they've disembarked at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

He is greeted with a loud collective "awww" as he enters the Arrival Hall sniffing around to find the rightful owner of the phone. The next few shots reveal how the he returns lost property that include a range - from headphones to stuffed toys. The pup has become a huge hit with passengers who adore him. They click pictures while he does his job. "We train for muscle strength, endurance and, of course, socialisation," says Dirk Van Driel, Sherlock's trainer in the video.

Posted on September 23 on YouTube, the video has already garnered 1.7 million views as on Thursday evening. Beagles, as a breed, have a phenomenal sense of smell and the ability to categorise scents. They are often a familiar sight in airports around the world.

KLM claims that it receives 40, 000 questions or enquiries via social media and most of them are about lost items. Despite the challenge of locating the owner, first results show that over 80 per cent of the items found can be reunited with their owners.

As per various media reports, Sherlock is not a part of KLM's 'Lost and Found' team but was employed only to feature in the campaign. He symbolises the detective like attitude of the team members' who provide this service.

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