Submitted by Dentsu CreativeAgency IPI Score 84/100

A Piece of Me

Influencer Marketing

KPN and Dentsu Creative Amsterdam released a pop song to shift blame for non-consensual image sharing from victims to forwarders, contributing to a Dutch law change and ranking number 1 on the WARC Effectiveness 100.

+16%Trust uplift
+236%Conversations uplift
+9%Brand consideration uplift
+19%Online safety association uplift
+16%Societal impact brand association uplift
33%Teens who engage in sexting

About the campaign

Dutch telecom KPN needed to make online safety meaningful to Gen Z under its Better Internet platform, in a culture where victims of non-consensual intimate image sharing are blamed while the people who forward the images escape consequence, with one in 100 teens affected and 33 percent of teens engaging in sexting.

Dentsu Creative Amsterdam made that misplaced blame the strategic anchor, naming the forwarder rather than the victim as responsible, and chose to deliver the message not as advertising Gen Z would skip but as a pop song they would choose to share. Working with Dutch artist MEAU, and informed by victims and experts, KPN released A Piece of Me in 2024 as a genuine single with a music video, distributed through YouTube, streaming platforms and organic social sharing, then screened in hundreds of Dutch schools as an educational tool before an international release as Piece of My Soul.

The track reached the top 3 of the Dutch charts, earned a Platinum record and generated millions of shares, and the campaign is credited by the agency with contributing to a change in Dutch law that classified non-consensual forwarding as a sexual offense, going on to win the Cannes Lions Creative Strategy Grand Prix 2024, D&AD Pencils and a Webby Award.

Case in 60 seconds

KPN, a Dutch telecom, needed to make online safety meaningful to Gen Z under its 'Better Internet' brand platform, targeting a culture in which society blames victims rather than those who forward intimate images without consent.

One in 100 teens have had intimate images shared without their consent, and 33% of teens engage in sexting, yet public discourse typically directs shame at the person in the image rather than the person who forwards it.

Deliver the message not as advertising but as a pop song Gen Z would choose to share, co-created with Dutch artist MEAU and informed by victims and experts, squarely naming the forwarder as responsible.

KPN and Dentsu Creative Amsterdam collaborated with MEAU to write and release 'A Piece of Me', a track and music video distributed via YouTube, music platforms and organic social sharing, and later screened in hundreds of schools as an educational tool. The song was subsequently launched internationally as 'Piece of My Soul'.

The song reached a top 3 chart position and earned a Platinum record, generated millions of shares, was shown in hundreds of schools, and the campaign is credited with contributing to a change in Dutch law making non-consensual forwarding a sexual offense. It won the Cannes Lions Creative Strategy Grand Prix 2024, D&AD Yellow and Wood Pencils, and a Webby Award.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Gen Z teens in the Netherlands were the primary audience, with families and the broader public as secondary. The audience was reached not through advertising placements but through music and social sharing channels the cohort already uses, and through the school system as an educational distribution layer.
Society frequently blames the victim of non-consensual image sharing rather than the person who forwards the content. This norm both causes harm, including depression, loneliness and, in extreme cases, suicide, and shields those actually responsible from social consequence.
A telecom brand addressing online safety risks being ignored or dismissed as self-serving by the very young audience most affected. Conventional public service advertising would likely be skipped by Gen Z, so reaching that audience required embedding the message in a format they value.
KPN's 'Better Internet' brand platform positioned the brand as a facilitator of safer online culture. Here the brand's role was to fund and enable a piece of culture rather than to broadcast a corporate message, stepping back so that MEAU and the song could carry the argument.
The strategic reframe was to name the forwarder, not the victim, as responsible. Giving Gen Z a clear, shareable position to adopt lowered the barrier to engagement and turned sharing the song into an act of alignment with that position.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Original pop song 'A Piece of Me' by MEAU
  • Music video published on YouTube and other video platforms
  • Organic social sharing by audiences
  • Music streaming platforms
  • In-school educational screenings across hundreds of Dutch schools
  • International release as 'Piece of My Soul'

Partners

  • Dentsu Creative Amsterdam (lead agency, credited by D&AD, Webby Awards and Dentsu Group press release)
  • MEAU (Dutch pop artist, song co-creator)
  • Victims and experts (contributors to song content)

Participation mechanic

  • Organic social sharing of the song and video by Gen Z audiences
  • School adoption as curriculum or assembly material
  • International release to extend reach beyond the Netherlands

Creator role

  • MEAU co-created the song and fronted the music video, providing cultural credibility and reach
  • Victims and experts contributed to the song's content and authenticity

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Social sharesMillions of sharesReach / distributionAgency reported
Music certificationPlatinum recordCultural impactAgency reported
Teens who engage in sexting (contextual statistic)33%contextAgency reported

Awards & Recognition

Award showYearCategoryResultSource
Cannes Lions2024Creative Strategy Grand PrixGrand Prix—
Cannes Lions2024Health & WellnessSilver Lion—
Cannes Lions2024StrategySilver Lion—
Cannes Lions2024Entertainment for MusicSilver Lion—
Cannes Lions2024Multiple categories (12 shortlists)Shortlisted—
D&AD2024Sound Design & Use of MusicYellow Pencil—
D&AD2024Health & WellbeingWood Pencil—
Webby Awards2025Best Cause Related Campaign (PR)Winner—
WARC Effectiveness 1002024Effectiveness rankingListed—

Why Dentsu Creative's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Delivering a public-safety message as a genuine pop song, rather than as advertising, removed the skip reflex: Gen Z encountered the content on their own terms and chose to share it.

  2. 2

    The strategic reframe, naming the forwarder rather than the victim as responsible, gave audiences a clear moral position to adopt and made sharing the song a social signal rather than a passive consumption act.

  3. 3

    Partnering with a credible artist (MEAU) and grounding the song in input from victims and experts gave the content authenticity that carried it into schools and into a policy conversation, channels that conventional advertising cannot easily access.

  4. 4

    A single high-quality creative asset, when built for organic distribution, can achieve reach and cultural impact that outperforms paid media spend, as evidenced by millions of shares and a Platinum chart record without conventional advertising being cited as the distribution mechanism.

  5. 5

    Linking a brand purpose campaign to a measurable societal outcome, in this case a change in Dutch law, gives effectiveness claims weight beyond media metrics and makes the work legible to both effectiveness juries and award juries simultaneously.

  6. 6

    The Cannes Lions jury rewarded the strategic insight as much as the execution, signalling that the reframing of responsibility, rather than production craft alone, was the differentiating factor.

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