Coolness is a quality traditionally bestowed by others, but that didn’t stop New York-based creative agency Mustache, the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Amsterdam Marketing, and Schiphol Airport from declaring Holland as “The Original Cool” in a series of videos dating back to 2013.
Aimed at the U.S. market, the ads were fast-paced, knowingly ironic, and fronted by a deadpan guide (Pim de Koel) who, in one video, explained that everything hip—from bicycles, beards, and artisanal food to canals, vintage hats, liberal social policies, and organic markets—had, in fact, been Dutch all along. Three episodes asked if cool could be taught, experienced, or stolen, and the overall message was that the low-lying country wasn’t just cool; it actually invented coolness, a dubious claim at best.
