Every year, more than 1,5 billion phones are manufactured around the globe, but only 1 to 2% are actually recycled*. It represents 80% of the negative impact of the digital world on the environment*; and is therefore the first source of digital pollution far above networks, data centers, or streaming impact.

In France alone, more than 100 million* smartphones lay forgotten at the bottom of people’s drawers. We wanted to respond to this challenge as a worldwide leader (“With great power comes great responsibility”) and position Orange as THE unequivocal leader of the circular economy in the telco business. In order to do so, we had to motivate and convince people to take action, adopt responsible gestures, and progressively change collective behaviors.

The biggest challenge was to reinvent ourselves from the inside when the business was doing well.

To change the world, we had to change ourselves first!

The creative idea is to give phones a second life in each stage/part of the campaigns.

Our goal was to show that our phone still has value when we decide to get another one, just as children’s toys. The play on childhood nostalgia has been very effective and provided a strong communication territory that we could build on year after year.

To give life to the Re program, our creative strategy was showing that doing something good for the environment was as simple as using a child’s toy.

We developed that for 3 years, through 3 campaigns:

Re Program (Recycle, Refurbish, Return, Repair) with the Toy campaign in 2021 & 2022,

Refurbished Phone with the Christmas campaign in 2022,

Benefit from buy-back in The Little Collector campaign in 2023.

Our Data intelligence department did a large social listening about digital pollution in February 2020: it showed people were expecting telco operators to play a major role in the circular economy and in a way that allows everyone to be part of the solution.

We made a great effort to package the program and make it distinctive, ownable, and engaging.

Qualitative testing showed the great potential of the program’s identity, which was a major breakthrough in its design, with the reversed “Re” and the 4 complementary pillars working as a holistic system (Recycle, Refurbish, Return, Repair).

We were convinced that the Re Program was a concrete way to differentiate ourselves from the competition, a great way to nourish our value for money brand perception, and embody a leader’s role, in perfect resonance with our brand DNA “the future is bright, the future is green”.

Since the launch of the Re Program, we broadcast several assets of communication in all brand touchpoints, created real awareness and changed the behaviors of our customers.

Each new event or new offer, is an occasion to promote the Re Program with affinity:

• The Toy campaign: September 2020 > Today

Europe (France, Belgium, Moldova, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Romania, Spain).

1 main TV/digital film: 30s/40s/60s/90s

4 TV/digital Spots for each pillar: 20s

4 Key visuals used for print (press, billboards, POS)

• The “Re” Christmas campaign: December 2022 (France)

1 main TV/digital film: 30s/40s/60s/90s

8 Key visuals used for print (press, billboards, POS)

• The little collector campaign: February 2023 (France)

1 main TV/digital film: 30s/40s/60s/90s

4 Key visuals used for print (press and POS)

• Re program:

50% of French people know about the Re program***

+ 95% for people’s desire to know more about the program between 2020 and 2022 *

+ 108% of increase for the collection rate of used phones between 2020 and 2022 **

+ 100% of discussions about Orange recycling on Twitter during the launch **

+ 200% in search volume for “Orange refurbished” on Google **

• Brand and communication:

Strong emotional engagement year after year: liking rates way above standards, 62 vs 47 for TV *

+10 points: brand preference *

+14 points: brand consideration *

+30 points: intention to inquire between exposed and non-exposed *

+20 points: CSR items on “acts to reduce its impact on the environment” *

62% of people exposed declare that they will recycle their phone *

39% increase in the number of in-store mobile repairs during Christmas **