Barbara Dzikanowice

New positioning of Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht.

Defining their renewed purpose, a new baseline, writing their manifesto & code of conduct.

The challenge

The Belgian ethical-sustainable bank vdk bank has prioritized reinvesting money in social and sustainable projects ever since its foundation in 1926. But these days ‘sustainability’ has become a catch-all term. Almost all banks claim to be sustainable. Even those who are not. So, how to do we tell our story in a more distinctive way?

The idea

We challenged Belgians to triple their thinking: by choosing a bank that creates added value for themselves, their community, and the planet. Symbol for this way of thinking? A three-sided coin, with the third side representing the positive impact money can have on society and the environment.

The coin played a central role in all campaign deliverables. Thanks to a collaboration between several craftsmen the coin also got produced and distributed among employees and clients.

Our campaign was picked up by national media. The coin was applauded by the European Commission even made it into the hands of Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank.

Shortlisted @ CBA 2024

Context

On the 7th of December 2023, the Belgian government passed the bill for a Banker’s oath, legally requiring all bank employees to swear to uphold specific ethical standards. Just like doctors or lawyers.

Idea

Vdk bank didn’t want to wait for that final oath. So, they wrote and published an oath themselves. The very next day, as a full-page ad, in national newspapers. The ad challenged the government to go for a more ambitious oath including extensive social ánd environmental commitments.

Vdk bank didn’t just write the oath, they also took it. All 300 employees, making them the first Belgian bank to do so.

The advert led to media coverage by Kanaal Z, Knack, Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard and others.

YouTube is filled with tons of beer reviews: videos made by beer-enthusiasts from all over the world tasting beers and sharing their honest findings.

Carlsberg decided to filter out the reviews for their classic Carlsberg pilsner and discovered that most of them were exclusively positive. In fact, some of them sounded so much like ads for their beer that Carlsberg, well, turned them into ads for their beer.

Probably the most honest radio campaign in the world.

The radio campaign won Gold @ the Creative Belgium Awards 2020 and bronze @ Eurobest 2019

Think in colour is a digital tool developed by Belgian newspaper Knack and creative agency Mutant that through a series of questions and exercises visualises the way your mind works. After each question their shape changes slightly, ending with their own personal ‘sculpture’.

I took on the copywriting for the test itself.

The brief? Come up with a film that promotes the Four Hands Screenwriting Festival in Lisbon.

The film won a Silver Epica award (2017) and was shortlisted in the Cannes Lions Film category (2018).

Can small biscuits make a big difference? That’s the philosophy behind the inclusive startup Lena & Lou.

Lena and Lou was founded for (and together with) my sister Helena. Helena’s big dream was having ‘a real job’, which is a challenge because of her intellectual disability. She loves dogs and she loves baking, so we figured 1 + 1 = 3: let’s start our own petfood-brand.

By rewarding your dog with the snacks from Lena & Lou, you also reward its extraordinary bakers.

Today we intensively coach 5 people with a disability.
Our snacks are sold at Bio-Planet, Delhaize and on our webshop.

To announce Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show ‘Who is America?’, we built real walls in front of Mexican restaurants. An outdoor installation that is as provocative as the show itself.

Client: Be tv

Press:

http://creativity-online.com/work/betv-who-is-america-wall/55165

http://adage.com/videos/the-top-5-breakthrough-creative-ideas-of-the-week/1545

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/08/09/who-america-hype-builds-with-mexican-wall-out-home-stunt

http://www.thestable.com.au/tag/happiness-betv-mexican-wall/

Creative Belgium and newspaper De Morgen published a one-time magazine dedicated to advertising and creativity. I was asked to write a piece on ‘what it’s like as a woman in a male-dominated industry’.

PROBLEM

Every day more than 100 Belgians are diagnosed with skin cancer. One of the main causes? The use of sunbeds.

IDEA

98% of Belgian sunbeds use the same voice guide. A gentle, female voice that guides you through your tanning session. We convinced the actress behind that voice guide to use her voice for a greater good: a radio campaign by the Belgian Cancer Foundation against the use of sunbeds.

PRESS

https://lbbonline.com/news/happiness-and-the-belgian-foundation-against-cancer-bring-the-voice-of-cancer-to-life/

http://www.thedrum.com/creative-works/project/happiness-brussels-stichting-tegen-kanker-give-skin-cancer-voice

https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/audio/belgian_cancer_foundation_message_from_jolanda

http://www.thestable.com.au/happiness-the-voice-of-skin-cancer-records-a-radio-ad/ 

https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34567384/message-from-jolanda/belgian-cancer-foundation

https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/commercials/23175315/

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180529_03534726  

https://qmusic.be/nieuws/zonnebankstem-jolanda-is-nu-tegen-zonnebanken

https://www.hln.be/de-krant/de-zonnebankstem-smeekt-nu-ga-daar-a-u-b-niet-onder~ac84742b/

http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20180528_03533064

https://www.farma-sfeer.be/nl/nieuws/stichting-tegen-kanker-lanceert-campagne-tegen-zonnebankgebruik.html

https://www.despecialist.eu/nl/nieuws/stichting-tegen-kanker-lanceert-campagne-tegen-zonnebankgebruik.html

http://plusmagazine.knack.be/gezondheid/stichting-tegen-kanker-lanceert-campagne-tegen-zonnebankgebruik/article-normal-1153275.html

https://pub.be/nl/happiness-geeft-huidkanker-een-stem/

BRIEFING

Where there’s music, there’s Tuborg. Come up with a campaign that re-establishes Tuborg's unquenchable thirst for musical collaborations. 

ANSWER

We decided to create a beat that would travel the world so other artists could build further on it: the Tuborg Beat. 

And who better to produce this beat than Major Lazer? Known for their groundbreaking collaborations with A-list artists such as Justin Bieber, MØ, Nicki Minaj and many more.

The Tuborg Beat is so good, we’ve bottled it. Into unique, specially-designed Beat Bottles. When opening the bottle, you set free the beat, but … the sound will be played only once.

The Tuborg Beat was passed on to local artists all over the world who, inspired by their hometown, created their own version.

People could dive deeper thanks to a series of separate documentaries, shot by Vice, that followed the creation-process of the collaborating artists.

Problem

More than 300.000 Belgians live in debt. Sadly, there’s an entire industry of debt collectors charging extra fees, making profit on people’s misery.

Sp.a, the Belgian Labour party, wanted to stop this malpractice.

Idea

Sp.a created #DebtPoetry: a series of social videos in which debtors simply read their case out loud, as if it were poetry. The poems painfully showed how excessive the fees are.

Results

Social pressure got the topic in the news, on the table in the Parliament and eventually the law was changed. The first reminder for unpaid bills is now free of charge.

All for only €125 in paid media & a little bit of poetry.

BRIEFING

“That is not a Fleming.”

 “Since when is a goatfucker a Fleming?”

These are just a few of the many racist reactions posted below a news article announcing the death of a 15-year-old boy from Genk who died in an accident on holidays in Morocco. The fact that he was called a Fleming in the headline did not go down well with a great deal of other Flemings.

The reactions painfully show that we have a long way to go to reach shared citizenship. The ‘Minority Forum’, the federation of ethno-cultural minority associations in Belgium believed it was time for a necessary discussion.

ANSWER

“I am a Fleming. Can I be proud as well?” That’s the question asked on a series of portraits, spread over huge digital billboards throughout Flanders and Brussels. 

The portraits show Flemings with different migration backgrounds with next to them the logo of the Flemish lion, commonly used by the right wing Flemish Movement. Only this time the logo doesn’t say ‘I am Fleming and I am proud of that’ (the slogan of the Flemish movement) but a tweaked version of the slogan: “I am a Fleming. Can I be proud as well?”

An open question that triggered a storm of discussion. Everyone who wanted to contribute to the discussion and support the action could add the logo to their profile picture on ikbenvlaming.be

Context

Belgium is the land of surrealism: since signing the Paris Agreement, our CO2 emissions haven’t dropped, they’ve increased! Climate obviously isn’t a priority for this government.

Sp.a, the Belgian Labour party, launched a petition for Clean Air and wants people to sign it.

Briefing

Come up with a social idea that makes people aware of the need to invest in the climate and sign Sp.a’s petition.

Idea

Trump has been criticized heavily for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. But at least he’s is honest about not wanting to invest in the climate.

We manipulate video footage of Trump and let him confront Belgium with their hypocrisy. Trump challenges Belgium to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

BRIEFING

Come up with a TV-campaign that convinces Australians to download the Slotomania-app (a popular slots game.)

The challenge: most people are ashamed of playing slots games in public. Slotomania wants to take that feeling away, by positioning the game as a source of ‘guilt-free me-time’.

ANSWER

Slotomania. It’s ok to play, any minute of the day.

To communicate this, we didn’t just launch one film. We launched a film for every minute of the day.

Literally. 1440 films in total.

One for each minute of the day. In each film, we gave another reason why it’s okay to play Slotomania at that specific moment.

For example:

Why it’s ok to play Slotomania at 9.33
Why it’s ok to play Slotomania at 2.56
Why it’s ok to play Slotomania at 05.12
And so on.
 

BRIEFING

Come up with a fun summer activation for telecom provider JIM Mobile.

ANSWER

In Belgium it rains a lot. No, really. A LOT. Even in summer time.

That’s why JIM Mobile decided to turn the negative into the positive: by giving their clients the opportunity to score free mobile data every time it rains. Enter the mobile web app ‘Stay in the Rain’.

Stay in the Rain was connected with the API of a real-time rain radar website. 

Each time it rained right above your head, your rain pipe automatically filled itself with water. Water you could then swap for free mobile data at the end of summer.

That’s how JIM Mobile brought a little bit of sunshine into the typical Belgian summer.

NO RAIN. NO GAIN.

Watch the case-film HERE.