Essential Customer Understanding // In the UK alone there are over 90 million old phones languishing unused in people's homes. Every year another 15 million phones fall out of use and yet only around a quarter of these are returned to be recycled or reconditioned. That's 3,600 tonnes of plastic, 1,350 tonnes of copper, 270 tonnes of aluminium & 500 tonnes of lead which, if they reach landfill sites would cause considerable environmental problems by leaching toxic materials into the soil & water table.
The second problem is a social one of lack of access to mobile phones in developing countries. Here it's often not the service costs that are the barrier to entry but the high handset costs.
Creative Connection // Total Repair Solutions have an enviable reputation within mobile industry as a leading mobile phone repair & post sales service specialist. Our strategy was to transfer this infrastructure & expertise to the consumer sector & offer a simple & motivating solution to recycling mobile phones.
The starting point was the creation of a new brand which tapped into peoples increasing awareness of 'being more green' & gave consumers an easily recognized & remembered cipher for health, wellbeing & generally being 'a good thing'. A consideration in our choice was TRS's plans to run this scheme throughout Europe, so our brand name needed to be understood & intellectually defendable in many different countries & cultures.
The final side of our belief triangle was answered by firstly partnering with a local carbon offsetting organization to plant an indigenous tree for every phone received & secondly by offering a range of 'tipping point' discounts on new mobile contracts.
The first phase of testing was an unsupported 'soft launch' in all 150 of TRS's mobile phone shops in Holland with the concept being developed onto POS collection units, freepost envelopes & a Dutch/English language website.
Genius Effect // The phase 1 launch had two objectives;
- to prove the infrastructures capability to collect, access, recycle & re-sell mobile phones
- to breakeven within 6 months of launch & collect over 30,000 handsets.
The results from the first 2 months are on target to achieve these targets & 25,000 White Oak trees have already been ordered.
