RECYCLED PROPAGANDA

TitleRECYCLED PROPAGANDA
BrandVLUCHTELINGENWERK
Product/ServiceREFUGEE HELP
Category B03. Posters
Entrant MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Media Placement MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
PR MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Production MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Joost / Philippe / Jens Berends / De Ceuster / Mortier mortierbrigade creative directors
Frederic Zouag mortierbrigade art director
Nicolas Gaspart mortierbrigade copywriter

Background

Situation Vlaams Belang is the most far-right political party in Flanders. On October 14th they were declared the biggest victor in the Flemish elections with 18,5% of the votes. 18,5% of votes is a lot, but it still means over 80% of Flemish people did nòt vote for them. Even though that’s a lot of people you hardly ever hear their voices online, where the far-right’s presence is much more visible. Challenge After this ‘Black Sunday’, we wanted to make sure the now silent majority would still be heard. Because they, and the refugees seeking help, had to be reminded of the hospitable side of Flanders. Objectives “Our people too” should instigate a political debate. This meant we had to gain enough traction amongst a broad audience, but also trigger some of the politicians involved. As such our objectives focused mainly on reach and earned media.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Our audience was two-fold: - We wanted to remind the silent majority of Flemish people that they did not stand alone. - We wanted to assure refugees that a large part of Flanders was still very open to them. So we collected the outdoor posters used by political party Vlaams Belang during the most recent elections and recycled them. We turned their negative and excluding message into a positive and welcoming one. By changing their slogan “Eerst onze mensen” (“Our people first”) into “Ook onze mensen” (“Our people too”) we showed the warm and hospitable side of Flanders.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

We could have used any regular paper for this idea, but reusing the posters used by those who vehemently disagree with our message is what won the attention of both the public and the national press. Not only did we reuse their paper, each poster exactly mimics the original one in terms of lay-out and style.

List the results (20% of vote)

Our combined ATL and digital efforts sent a shockwave through the Belgian political landscape: - Potential global reach: 56.562.000 impressions - 670.000 national impressions - A generated PR value of €934.233 And to top it off: Vlaams Belang’s poster child Dries Van Langenhove felt obliged to react as well.