This week Australian-based independent creative agency, Rethink Everything, launched its latest campaign – the World Phone Amnesty – at SXSW Sydney.
Aiming to change the behaviour of our planet’s 6.92 billion smartphone users, the World Phone Amnesty, powered by next-gen mobile experience (MX) pioneers Kingfisher, is a global initiative designed to repurpose, recycle and reuse billions of redundant mobile phones.
With 5.3 billion unloved mobile devices this year destined for landfill or the back of a drawer, the World Phone Amnesty incentivises consumers ready to upgrade to a new phone to reduce their environmental footprint by simply handing in their old phone for someone else to use.
Rethink Everything co-founders Mike Spirkovski and Vanessa Liell believe the World Phone Amnesty is a win-win for consumers and the planet.
Spirkovski said the World Phone Amnesty is “a simple and small task to kick a global problem”.
“Consumers want to do the right thing,” he said. “However, understanding what that is, in a sea of conflicting information, is a challenge. As mobile phone consumption accelerates, this campaign provides truth and clarity to enable genuine and impactful change”.
Liell said Kingfisher offers a brilliant solution to repair, refurbish and rehome old mobile phones, and Australians will be the first mobile users to jumpstart the global movement. “We know changes in consumer demand drive innovative solutions. However it is changes in consumer behaviour that have impact,” she said.
The agency’s most recent ground-breaking change campaign was the recent Great Reef Census for Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, which continues to galvanise a community of citizen scientists and environmental crusaders.
“Mike and the Rethink Everything team have done an excellent job of bringing the idea of the World Phone Amnesty to life with just the right balance of creativity and pragmatism,” said Kingfisher chief marketing officer, Luke Nathans.
“The World Phone Amnesty starts with one small behaviour change that can bring massive incremental change for the planet”.
“We’re not asking people to stop buying new phones, just to hand in their old ones when they get a new one. Approximately 83% of a phone’s carbon emissions comes from manufacturing, shipping, and first-year usage. If we can give phones two or three new lives, we can make a real difference” Nathans said.
Rethink Everything’s global launch campaign of the World Phone Amnesty will run for an initial four weeks and scale via a second launch at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in early 2024. The campaign includes a 90-second video, an immersive and educational website, developed by award-winning production partner Vandal, plus integrated communications across digital and social, along with a public relations strategy.
The World Phone Amnesty web portal offers a comprehensive resource to demonstrate how, through a simple behaviour change, people can be part of the circular mobile phone economy. Its immersive and engaging features aim to inform, educate and empower every smartphone user to rethink how they can be more sustainable through extending the life of their device.
