Title	KAFKA
Brand	VRT
Product/Service	RADIO 1
Category	E01. Use of Integrated Media
Entrant	MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation	MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Media Placement	VRT Brussels, BELGIUM
Production	VRT Brussels, BELGIUM
Production 2	CZAR Brussels, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Jens Mortier	mortierbrigade	Creative Director
Joost Berends	mortierbrigade	Creative Director
Philippe De Ceuster	mortierbrigade	Creative Director
Charlotte Coddens	mortierbrigade	Head of Production
Lies Bernaer	mortierbrigade	Agency Producer
Jesse Van Gysel	mortierbrigade	Copywriter
Yana Gestels	mortierbrigade	Art Director
Wouter Bouvijn		Director

The Campaign

Cut the Kafka is a show on Belgian radio station Radio 1, about kafkaesque regulations. To announce it, we used what a lot of people have to go through: stupid procedures and being sent from pillar to post. Every separate medium led you to another. A tv commercial sent you to a website. On that website, you were told that you had to call a phone number. That phone number led to the radio commercial. The radio commercial led you the next radio commercial. Which eventually led you to the next tv commercial, where you could find out that the show was on every day, from 9 until 10. As it always has been.

Creative Execution

In our campaign we used what a lot of people have to go through: stupid procedures, and being sent from pillar to post We applied quite some mediacreativity. Every separate medium led you to another to get the info on the program. A tv commercial sent you to a website Which then led you to the RIGHT website. There, you were told that you had to call a phone number. On that number people heard a message saying that they had to listen to the radiocommercial. That radiocommercial sent you to the next commercial break on the radio. We added some random confusing banners. And eventually you were sent to the next TV commercial.

Cut the Kafka became one of the most listened to shows on Radio 1. The success of the show even led to a special meeting amongst Belgium’s top politicians to discuss their kafkaesque regulations and to try and find a solution to the problem.

Media creativity was at the center of this idea. We showed people how annoying kafkaesque situations could be, by sending them from one medium to another. We used all kinds of media: tv, radio, bannering, websites, print and some other non-conventional media like an answering machine.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Belgium is a country with 3 official languages and 6 governments. All of which have their own laws and regulations. So, it’s no surprise that Belgians encounter kafkaesque situations a lot more than they would like. Yet, they still see the humour of it all. Like when they celebrated becoming record holder of “longest time without a government” in 2011. That’s why we decided to implement a strategy that contained elements of kafkaesque regulations, because every Belgian would be able to relate to them, without being too annoyed.