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 cyber-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, 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 on.

Online shaming is a problem that thrives deep in internet culture. To make an impact, we needed a song and music video powerful enough to propel it into the spotlight of popular culture and public consciousness.

To 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 everyday topics such as love, personal development 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.

MEAU called on her fanbase, 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 original music emerged, every lyric informed by real stories shared by her young fans. This collaborative effort ensured that every aspect of the song—lyrics, melody, and rhythm— would strike the right chord. Together, we crafted a music video that would do justice to the extraordinary track. Gen-Z spots inauthenticity, so to do justice to the track and craft a music video they would care enough about to share, we had to make the story feel real.

That started with choosing a talented young female director, who helped safeguard the female gaze in the storytelling and avoid stereotypes. We cast first-time actors via Instagram, building chemistry through socialising and improvisation. So everyone could see themselves, friends, the nice kid next door in the story…. We then told a story 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. He shares an intimate photo, then she shares one. It’s a private moment of flirtation between two teens. When he decides to forward the photo, her life quickly unravels with terrible consequences. At a critical moment, we cut back to the start…except this time he deletes it. And their relationship, their friendships, their lives remain intact. The film powerfully delivers the message: Think twice before you forward. Sharing intimate images without consent can 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, premiered with 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 mix of influencers with personal connection to the topic helped spread the word, sharing the their experiences, further shifting the burden of silence and shame.

Every generation has a song that reflects its strongest emotions and is a catalyst for change. For Dutch teens, “A Piece of Me” is that song. It created a powerful cultural movement, achieving extraordinary scale in a country of only 17.7m people. ? A certified gold record, overtaking Beyoncé in the charts ? +16M streams ? No.2 trending video on YouTube ? 500+ covers, including one in sign language ? 29M organic views ? 229M PR impressions

We changed the conversation: ? Conversations on online shaming increased +183% online, with a 92% uplift in male audiences discussing thinking before you forward ? Hundreds of schools added our content to the curriculum

Young victims used the lyrics as part of witness statements in court

We changed behaviour: ? Charity partners saw average traffic uplifts of +119%

We changed brand perceptions, increased brand value and sales: ? Brand consideration +9% ? Associations with online safety +19% ? Trust +16% ? “A brand that creates societal impact” + 16%

Among campaign recognisers, brand reputation increased by +8.3 points, among both customers and non customers, driven by improved perception of KPN as a leader and good corporate citizen Kantar’s BrandZ study named KPN the most valuable Dutch brand only operating in the Netherlands. (increasing E128m in brand value from E5.057bn-5.185bn between June 23 and June 24)

In July, KPN was for the first time named the strongest brand in the Netherlands, overtaking leading supermarket chain, Albert Heijn, and Heineken (Brand Finance). Brand Finance’s Brand Strength Index has been running for 9 years and ranks brand strength based on a combination of metrics from awareness to reputation and commercial success. KPN increased its Brand Strength Index score by 19% to an astonishing 88%.

The campaign not only built long term brand value and societal impact, it had an immediate impact on sales; KPN welcomed thousands of new broadband fibre customers over the period, with 7% directly attributed to the campaign.

We changed the law: On March 19th the Dutch Sexual Crimes Act was passed, making it illegal to share intimate content without consent. Following its profound impact in the Netherlands, the song was rerecorded in English and set to the same powerful video, premiered on Sky News UK and MEAU’s YouTube channel, to spark a global conversation. Shared by young people, activists, policymakers and charities as far afield as Ecuador, Australia and India, it’s helping vulnerable teens, changing the narrative and behaviour around the world.