As part of a safe internet banking campaign, Febelfin - the Belgian federation of the financial sector - wanted to make people aware that the information they share online can be used against them by cyber criminals. Instead of telling and informing people and press about this online safety problem, we decided to let them experience the problem and by doing so give them and press a story to tell.

After the live experience we sent all our ‘victims’ home with a little shock and a flyer containing tips on how they can increase safety when banking online. Afterwards we made a film from the stunt, uploaded it to YouTube, seeded it to Belgian national press and organized a press conference together with Febelfin.

From its very essence this case was build through a PR-approach since we set out to solve the online safety awareness problem by getting people and press to talk about it. However we wouldn’t be satisfied with conversations, we wanted discussions. Debate. Which we successfully achieved.

1. We put a tent on a square in Brussels with an extremely gifted clairvoyant inside, Dave. Random people were invited into the tent to have their mind read Then we revealed the magic behind the magic. Dave was wearing a little microphone and people had actually been hacked on the spot.

2.we sent all our ‘victims’ home with a little shock and a flyer containing tips on how they can increase safety when banking online

3. We made a film from the stunt, uploaded it to YouTube, seeded it to Belgian national press and organized a press conference together with Febelfin.

The shock wasn’t limited to the people in the tent, it went around the world and through the roof from the very start. The online film – made from the stunt – was topping more than 10 million views on Youtube and was shared over 800.000 times. The 'online safety banking'-site visits increased by 286%. But more importantly: we provoked a huge public debate in all major newspapers, both online and offline, and on national television. It even made the front page of two important Belgian news magazines.