Ideas We Love: The Boring Phone 📞🤙🍻

Issue Number 17: Heineken and Bodega partner to launch a phone aimed at helping the 'extremely online' reclaim their social lives

Hi there. How are you?

We’d assume a good number of you reading this week’s newsletter will be doing so on your mobile phones. It’s an almost unavoidable feature of modern life that most of us will spend more time than is strictly healthy scrolling, sharing and streaming via these devices. This week’s idea seeks to offer a way back to a simpler time - when we enjoyed more quality time with our friends and were less distracted by the devices in our pockets.

The idea: The Boring Phone

Launched at Milan Design Week, the Boring Phone is a partnership between Heineken, Streetwear retailer Bodega and handset manufacturer HMD that is aimed at the modern phenomena of ‘smartphone dependence’.

By stripping the Boring Phone of many of the features we associate with modern handsets - no maps, no social media, no multi-mega-pixel camera - the launch tackles a growing desire amongst people to ‘un-plug’ and reshape their relationship with technology.

Research by Heineken suggests that 90% of people they spoke to admitted to ‘doom scrolling’ when out with their friends. People claimed to check their phones an average of seven times during nights out and both Gen-Z and Millenials - people who have largely grown up with ready access to powerful handsets - are claiming that they wish they could ‘switch off’ from their phones. 37% of those surveyed claim they check their phones too often in social settings.

For all the good that connectivity offers us, maybe it’s coming at the expense of our relationships and even our mental wellbeing, too. According to the New Yorker, the desire to unplug is leading to a ‘dumb phone revolution’, a movement that this campaign seeks to tap into.

Obviously the device itself will be available in incredibly limited numbers… but Heineken have plans to release an app which will turn your smart phone into a ‘dumb’ phone for a limited time … giving you the means to digitally detox during nights out or times when you’d rather than be focussed on the people around you. The app works to further broaden the potential impact of the initiative.

Why we love this idea

An idea to get people engaged with their friends is a natural fit for a beer brand, but even so there’s a load of stuff to like about the way they’ve chosen to execute this idea.

#1 A clearly defined ‘monster’ 📱

Smartphones are amazing. So is the internet. The marriage of these technologies has been a wonderous thing. But arguably you can have too much of a good thing. Being constantly connected is not necessarily good for us - and technology, when overused has the potential to adversely affect our brains and our relationships.

Like all good ideas - the ‘enemy’ or ‘monster’ that the brand is trying to fight on behalf of the customer is clearly defined and the campaign offers a compelling and attractive alternative to the customer by way of a resolution.

#2 Y2K aesthetic 🔥

Sadly, Matt and Tom are now old enough that the era they grew up in is seen as ‘retro’. Having said this, we’re big fans of the look of the handset - from the low-res screen, to the seethrough plastic, to the flip of the flip-phone itself.

Coming out of the cinema having seen The Matrix in 1999 Tom remembers asking himself two questions: 1) Are we living in a computer simulation? 2) How do I get a Nokia Banana Phone? The device on offer here (essentially a rebadged Nokia 2660) harks back to a time when phones weren’t just ‘black rectangles’ but actually had some character. We love that they’ve actually made the thing too: ‘Do stuff, tell people’ is a useful mental model for modern communications planning.

Given the trendiness of all things 90s/00s at the moment, there is alot about this camapign to give it shelf appeal…

#3 From ‘brand to demand’ 🍺💚❤️

We love how Boring Phone works as both a physical artefact, but also as a statement about the audience and their lives. It’s an invite to return to a more exciting, sociable and ‘present’ approach to life. This idea works across the entire consumer journey - it’s a great initiative to drive brand fame, but can also be pulled all the way down into retail and on-trade environments too, as shown via the instructional beer mats below.

Another good example of work that has the potential to straddle ‘brand and demand’ - and further proof that the best ideas typically find ways to say ‘yes and’ rather than ‘either or’ (what Mark Ritson has called ‘bothism’)

What we’d love to have done with it

If we were launching the phone we’d love to explore some Y2K flexes akin to some recent McDonald’s work (see tasting notes below). But a limited-edition phone, in extremely limited supply can only really spotlight anti-social behaviours rather than change them at any meaningful scale.

Therefore what else might be done to scale this need for connection or stretch it beyond the lucky few who get their hands on a Boring phone?

#1 In-Bar. “Bored“ Games 🍻♟️

If we can’t switch out everyone’s phones, what about switching off their signal?

In friendly bars, Heineken could use signal jacking software or WiFi splash pages to offer up free beer, other relevant promos or alternative menus to those who willingly de-connect to better re-connect.

Or you might create “re-charging” stations in-bar, where in return for giving up your phone for the night, for each minute you’re parted with it you earn credit for some other forms of analogue connection and entertainment - access to green and red star emblazoned juke boxes, pool tables, pinball machines, playing cards, Polaroids and “Bored” games that extend the IP in this idea beyond the phone.

All of which offer up additional ways for Heineken to drop more new-news and new products like the Boring phone into the world that riff off the same insight and idea.

#2 Near-Bar. The (cr)App Store 🥊

If the enemy of this idea is the smartphone, then what about its evil twin, the App Store?

Well, to de-position the “App” as an efficient rather than an effective connection with the world around us, what if Heineken launched a (cr)App Store to accompany the ‘Boring Phone’ - part-bar, part-store, that sells the most beautiful maps and cartography to send-up Google Maps, the most wonderful postcards and stationery that replaces instant messaging, the rarest vinyl and colllections to make Spotify feel like a second-rate option etc etc you get the gist of it.

Each week, a new (cr)App is launched that could a) freshen up and stretch out the idea and b) give new reasons for people to come to the store, browse and enjoy a Heineken together. This would also open up a wider, richer world of brand collaborations for Heineken to explore as they deliver new products to store, adding futher reach and relevance to the comms plan in the process.

#3 Beach-Bars. Boring Island 🏝️

Matt’s 11 year old son doesn’t have a phone yet, however for an uncoming school trip there was a dedicated section of the briefing for students and parents that detailed how phones would be “left in London”. This would ensure the 10 and 11 year old kids going on-tour could enjoy what was on offer without distraction.

If 10 and 11 year olds are being encouraged to take digital detoxes, what of us adults?

An extreme take on this idea might be to create an aspirational space off-grid, you might call Boring Island, that Heineken can offer up to some fortunate friendship groups to enjoy some much needed re-hab together.

With some lovely companion parody ads of the Insta generation up the road to promote them - and an opportunity for bigger story-telling of the back too.

If you liked this, you’ll love…..

With it’s mix of retro styling, serious messaging and lo-fi fun, this campaign has some lovely tasting notes. Here are some of the campaigns from other brands which Boring Phone immediately brought to mind….

Project Graham by The Transport Accident Commission

Project Graham strived to demonstrate what a body would need to look like in order to withstand the dangers of modern motoring. The project aimed to remind us just how vulnerable our bodies are in the process as well as highlighting the risks of being involved in even a low speed car accident. A campaign designed to shock people out of their indifference to the dangers of the road.

KiwiBurger by McDonald's

Maccas have been very active recently in ploughing a furrow in their exploration of retro and nostalgia. From revisiting old menu items, to using old and anitiquated technology like Teletext and Fax Machines, to rebranding their restaurants in line with a long-running joke from Manga movies, the golden arches have been knocking out a series of ‘feel good’ campaigns. We wrote about one of the standout examples - the return of the Kiwiburger - in IWL issue no. 4.

The Department of Distraction Services by Oatly

As COVID swept across the globe in Spring 2020, Oatly launched the ‘Department of Distraction Services’ on their website - a set of joyful, lo-fi distractions from lockdown life. It’s a testament to what can be achieved with tetrapak, a wandering imagination and a government mandated stay-at-home order. Sadly their version of The Handmaid’s Tale, played with puppets fashioned from Oatly cartons, no longer lives online.

Pepper Hacker by Dolmio

‘Digital Detox’ is not a new issue. Back in 2015 Dolmio created a tech enable pepper grinder which would not only season food, but switch off people’s tech. All of this was done in the name of ‘reclaiming’ family dinner times, an occassion which was being slowly overtaken by TVs, Tablets and phones.

Notable mentions and futher reading in the form of Budweiser’s Red Light …. KFC’s Internet Escape Pod….. Off beat tech brand Nothing…..

Until next time

As always - we’d love to know what you think. What would you do with the Boring Phone? What ideas do you love at the moment?

If this kind of thing is your thing, we both write regularly on other stuff too. Tom’s blog can be found here and Matt can be found building out “The A to Z of Media Planning” here.

Until next time.

Cheerio

Tom & Matt