Podcast: With Piece Of Me, KPN Tapped Gen Z Culture With Purpose

(MENAFN- PRovoke) In the first episode of our new Trophy Case podcast series, PRovoke Media editor-in-chief Paul Holmes sat down with Dave Frauenfelder, VP brand, marketing communications and sponsorships at Dutch telecom provider KPN, and Jacqueline Bosselaar, executive strategy director, CEO and founder of HPB Het PR Bureau, to discuss the“Piece of Me” campaign, winner of our Platinum SABRE for the best public relations campaign in the EMEA region.

Partnering with one of the most popular artists in the Netherlands, the campaign created a gold record with 19 million online views, improved brand consideration and trust for KPN, and was influential in the passage of the Dutch Sexual Crimes Act, making it illegal to share intimate content without consent.

Key takeaways:

• The Dutch telecom market is highly saturated and companies compete on price and speed and coverage making it difficult to differentiate.
• Says Frauenfelder,“So instead of competing on features, we decided to lead on meaning and our positioning became a translation of our purpose.”
• While the Internet brings many good things, there's a darker side and KPN elected to address online safety through a“Better Internet” platform-with a specific focus on the sharing of nonconsensual sexual images,
• “We needed to focus on building trust and credibility. So therefore, we knew that the campaign needed to be earned by design.”
• The creative idea needed to be so much a part of the Gen Z culture that it was embraced immediately, says Bosselaar.“The artist we collaborated with, she really knew how to talk about this message in an authentic and credible way.”
• “It wasn't easy to also convince everybody within KPN that this is the way to go because it's a a really sensitive subject. But we listened to our audience and shaming repeatedly came up in those conversations.”
• “If you want to address Gen Z, a public service announcement will not work.” The audience would not listen to a lecture,“but they do listen to music, and they do connect with somebody from their generation.”
• On the campaign's emotional power:“It was impossible for me to watch it professionally. I started crying immediately over and over and over again.” And when the team showed the campaign to KPN's leadership,“there were board members crying.”
• The company spent as much time on a robust brand protection plan, mitigating potential negative reactions, as it did on the promotional part of the campaign.
• The team interviewed three artists nd the choice came down to trust. “I think you must trust each other.... We gave her complete freedom to write the song the way she wrote it.”
• At the launch, KPN was in the background“so we could really give the message and more the space that was needed.”
• While some people were critical of the women involved for allowing themselves to be filmed or photographed, the online conversation was self-policing, with other people correcting the criticism.
• As the campaign went viral it started showing up in classrooms,“policymakers quoted it in the debates.” Ultimately, it drove changes in Dutch law and became part of the lesson plan in many schools around the country.
• “We're also helping now the entire industry with through the GSMA to help other telcos in other parts of the world to create similar campaigns because we see that we can make more impact.”

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