REPROBEL - VOOR WAT HOORT WAT/DONNANT-DONNANT AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

CHALLENGE

More than 1 billion pages are copied annually from copyrighted works In Belgium. Although legislation entitles authors and publishers to compensation for these photocopies, this is generally not well known. Our client, Reprobel is an organization that manages copyright or related compensation rights on behalf of authors and publishers. It also facilitates the processes for the collection of such compensation.

We were approached by Reprobel to develop a communication strategy and campaign to address major issues for the future of the organization due to a comprehensive shift in the legal regulation of copying copyrighted works. The new act obliged Reprobel to become more pro-active in the collection of the compensation companies, organizations, public services and schools had to pay for the copy of protected content.

UPR needed to raise awareness, mainly amongst companies and organisations, of the stipulations of the new act regulating copying compensation for professional use. This included sharing information on the law and its application with the public and with affected stakeholders. We also need to invest in the reputation and credibility of Reprobel not to be perceived as yet another tax organisation but as partner of authors and publishers who need the compensation as an income for their work.  UPR had to raise awareness about the need and the importance of the compensation system for authors and publishers. Finally, the target publics had to be encouraged to pay the required compensation to Reprobel regularly and on time in line with the new regulations.

 

APPROACH

The major challenge was to translate the complex legal requirements and process context into an understandable and positive key campaign concept. This concept was based on the idea that only an author has the right to copy his own work for free and that all other parties must pay for the use or the copying of their work.

We firstly developed a creative campaign concept based on the principle of ‘give a little, take a little’ or ‘quid pro quo’ (voor wat hoort wat). This concept was translated in an image of an author that copies his own head on a copier. The image immediately made clear the key message of the campaign.

We next developed an interactive website www.voorwathoortwat.be / www.donnant-donnant.be with attractive graphics and animation. For the website we created informative and persuasive visual content, aptly illustrated with humoristic testimonials of well-known authors photocopying their own faces. The site also features effective links and other digital support to assist visitors through two key streams (government/business and education/research) with information according to their respective needs and requirements. The website also provides visitors with an online portal for payment of dues.

Finally, we launched a highly successful 360° communication campaign harnessing PR, social media advertising and online advertising to generate traffic to the new website.

 

EXPERTISE

In the execution of the campaign we strongly focussed on a strategic concept with the creation of creative content with a strong humoristic approach to avoid alienating the client’s targeted publics and to push a positive perception of an unpopular concept, i.e. paying a contribution. Our expertise in strategic media, influencer and stakeholder communication contributed to the successful launch of this highly effective campaign.

We simultaneously built brand awareness through brand activations during all the events associated with the campaign. Writers such as Tom Lanoye, Pieter Aspe and Walter van den Broeck, photographer Lieve Blancquaert and illustrator Thaïs Vanderheyden are some of the familiar faces of influencers applied to drive the campaign.