Good Tings
2degrees
TBWA\New Zealand
The Challenge
Unhealthy phone use among young people has reached a crisis point.
A generation raised on smartphones is suffering from attention issues, anxiety, and depression like never before, and there is now evidence to link this rise in mental health problems with device usage.
Smartphones are vital tools in today’s digital world. However, research says 71% of parents are unsure how to navigate this conversation at a time when children are applying pressure for early, unrestricted access.
As a telco known for ‘fairness,’ 2degrees wanted to positively affect this milestone.
The Solution
2degrees focused on the moment a child receives their first smartphone to help them develop a healthier relationship with their phones from day one.
“Good Tings” is an unboxing experience that teaches phone safety by interrupting the unboxing moment, providing education, and encouraging positive conversations between parents and children.
Designed to accommodate any phone, new or old, including existing packaging from brands like Apple or Samsung, “Good Tings” takes children and parents on a journey to understand, agree, and adopt healthy phone behaviors from the start.
Rather than preaching advice like other online safety initiatives, the experience delivers valuable safety lessons in disguise, where every element of the unboxing entertains and engages kids first through the language, aesthetic, and appeal of street culture.
The Results
The Good Tings campaign has had significant impact. In three months, 40% of all New Zealanders had engaged in the campaign. The lessons stuck, with 95% of those who interacted with the initiative learning safer behaviors. Quarterly volume of mobile phone plan sales increased 39% YoY. Initial boxes sold out within weeks, and they are now a permanent offering from 2degrees.
Importantly, the initiative has been integrated into the school curriculum, giving young New Zealanders the know-how to have safer phone experiences. This year, they will reach all school children aged 11-14.
Like obtaining a driver’s license or learning to swim, mastering healthy phone habits will now be an early life milestone for New Zealanders. The Good Tings First Phones Programme makes any first phone from 2degrees safer than one from any other telco in the world.
