Centre for Cyber Security Belgium (CCB)

How a medieval knight kept Belgians safe online

Government

Creative concept

Content strategy

Campaign development

Film & photo

Digital production & development

Visit website

The challenge: To persuade all citizens who have on-line accounts to implement 2-factor authentication (2FA).

Every day, cyber criminals hack into on-line accounts by using leaked, bought, or stolen passwords. You cannot always stop them even if you have changed your weak password '1234' to a strong combination of ‘'1234HetSterkstePaswoordTerWereld!!!'. However, you can by applying 2-factor authentication. It is high time everyone was aware of this. That is why the Centre For Cyber Security Belgium (CCB) commissioned us to launch a knight-in-shining-armour campaign.

The Approach: First create awareness, and then explain.

When people hear 2FA, no one says ‘Oh, I know…’! There is a great deal more explaining to do. However, people first have to be willing to listen. Our mission: Firstly, to attract the attention of a very wide target group, and secondly, to raise the issue, and last but not least, to explain the solution (2FA). But how do we go about that? By approaching people in a fun way and to point out to them that they will be left behind if they only use passwords. The latter are not secure at all. As soon as people grasp the problem, they are willing to change and to do things differently.

Passwords are a thing of the past

The campaign

2FA is a very innovative method to protect your accounts in just two simple steps. So, no longer just with your password alone. That method is completely outdated now. And what other type of protection is outdated? Yes, you are right, chain mail armour. We have brought a few knights to life and have allowed them to make an appearance in our campaign, with or without a horse in full armour. The knights have certainly caught the imagination of the media, and they have directed people to the website for more information about 2FA.

The results: Long live our knights in shining armour!

An armour-clad knight will go click-ety, clop, click-ety, clop. Yes, click-ety indeed. 3.66% of people who saw our film, then clicked onto the website for more information. That is 4.5 times better than the Facebook benchmark, and far more impressive than just achieving hits on social media. Some cities thought our campaign so amusing that it went viral among the local residents. Bakers even had our knight printed onto their bread bags. So, he is not outdated at all. Passwords are hopefully now a thing of the past.