KPN is the Netherlands’ leading telecom brand.  

In a saturated, commoditised market, differentiating on network speed and quality isn’t easy, so the category risks differentiating on price and value alone.  

Instead, KPN chose to differentiate on values with a commitment to a #betterinternet: safe, sustainable and socially inclusive.   

Our research showed that 1 in 2 Dutch consumers were concerned about online safety. For our core family audience, that meant protecting their kids in an alarming and unknown world.  

We needed to understand what online safety, and a #betterinternet meant to Generation Z.  

We created a unique platform for understanding: our TikTok talkshow. A platform designed to generate authentic customer insight, engaging young people in expertly moderated conversations on topics from cyber-bulling to mental health.  

These conversations identified online shaming as one of the biggest and most urgent issues facing teens online, and one where KPN could make a meaningful difference. 

1 in 3 young people worldwide and more than 1 in 10 in the Netherlands engage in sexting. Sexting is part of modern sexuality for a generation raised in the world of mobile, with intimate images shared in a bond of trust.  

But online shaming is growing rapidly in the Netherlands, with devastating consequences. In the past 6 months, over 33.000 Dutch youngsters have had intimate footage shared without their consent, with consequences ranging from depression and loneliness to suicide.  

Meanwhile, 12% of young people have forwarded intimate images without considering the life-changing effects on the victim. 

Society often blames and shames victims, but working with expert partners including Victim Support Fund (Fonds Slachtofferhulp), Dutch Sexuality Expertise Center (STICHTING RUTGERS), SoaAids Netherlands (Soa Aids Nederland), 113 suicide prevention (113 Zelfmoordpreventie) and Francien Regelink, as well as those affected, it became clear that the conversation needs to be opened up and responsibility shifted from those who share intimate images, to those who forward those images to others. 

Online shaming is a problem that thrives deep in internet culture. We needed to raise it to the surface. Encouraging victims, friends, parents and teachers to talk about the problem.  

Because the minute they started to talk, we saw the burden of silence and shame start to shift.  

To help us connect with Gen-Z about such a sensitive topic, we collaborated with the biggest artist in Dutch teenage culture: MEAU. MEAU (23), makes intimate, highly personal songs about topics like love and loneliness. With over 200k followers on TikTok and almost 200m Spotify streams she is one of the most trusted and influential voices among Gen Z in the Netherlands. 

MEAU called on her fanbase on Instagram, inviting them to share their experiences of online shaming.  Through a sensitive, and delicately managed process of co-creation, conversation and collaboration, a groundbreaking and heart-wrenching piece of music emerged; every lyric informed by those real stories.  

Together, we crafted a music video which brought the horrifying consequences of forwarding intimate messages to life and made our insight crystal clear.   

The issue isn’t sexting. The issue is deciding to forward intimate images without consent, violating a partner’s trust and exposing them to devastating consequences. Thinking before you forward can, quite literally, be a matter of life and death.  

Following a music release, rather than conventional media plan, we launched the track on major streaming platforms and digital stores, premiering the music video on MEAU’s social channels (Youtube, TikTok & Instagram), direct to the fans who inspired it. We further promoted through radio, live performances, and interviews. 

Four days after release, branded cutdowns appeared in cinemas, TV and online and KPN aired a mini-documentary featuring MEAU’s interviews with victims.  

“A Piece of Me” created a powerful cultural movement, achieving extraordinary scale in a country of only 17.7m people.  

We delivered a certified Gold record, No. 2 trending video on YouTube, 29M organic views, and 229M PR impressions.  

We changed the conversation, with +183% uplift in conversations on online shaming, focused on thinking before you forward and hundreds of schools using the video as education.  

We changed brand perception, with brand consideration +9%, associations with online safety +19%, Trust +16% and “A brand that creates societal impact” + 16% .  

And we helped change the law, making it illegal to share intimate content without consent.   

Following its profound impact in the Netherlands, the song was rerecorded in English, set to the same powerful video, to spark a global conversation. It has traveled as far afield as Ecuador, Australia and India, helping vulnerable teens around the world.