Belong invites Australians to ‘scroll good’ in latest brand campaign via Howatson+Company
Belong is inviting Australians to ‘scroll good’ on its carbon neutral mobile and internet plans in the latest brand campaign, via Howatson+Company.
The spot, titled ‘Thummit’, follows the story of a human thumb taking on the elements as it climbs Mt. Everest. It’s directed by Peter Martin of Hooves with VFX by Heckler.
Thummie battles blizzards, is confronted by vultures and even comes thumb to face with a Nepalese mountain yak ontheir journey to the summit. All to show that the average Australian scrolls the height of Mt. Everest – 8,849m – on their phones every month. And that every scroll ultimately contributes towards more energy consumption and higher carbon emissions.
Says Aaliah Eggins-Bryson, head of product and marketing at Belong: “While the carbon impact of energy, food and transport on the environment is well understood, few are aware of the carbon impact from their phone usage. We wanted to link the issue to a behaviour people could relate to, scrolling on their mobile phones, in a way that really grabbed their attention.”
Says Gavin Chimes, ECD at Howatson+Company: “Everest is a long way to climb for a human with legs. It’s even longer for a human thumb without them. Yet every month, our thumbs scroll that very distance. This fact was the perfect launch point for us to create a campaign to educate people about what that means for the environment. And show that with Belong’s carbon neutral mobile and internet, you can feel good about scrolling.”
The campaign features 60”, 30” & 15” TVCs and is supported by outdoor, radio, social and digital placements.
In 2019 Belong became Australia’s first carbon neutral telco. Since then Belong has offset more than 230,000 tonnes of CO2 (at no cost to its customers). This campaign builds on Belong’s proud environmental record as it looks to bring even more sustainability initiatives to life in 2023 and beyond. As a subsidiary of Telstra, Belong is also committed to reducing emissions by 50% by 2030.
Client: Belong
Senior Marketing Specialist at Belong: Abbey J Hindle
Head of Product and Marketing at Belong: Aaliah Eggins-Bryson
Chief Executive Officer at Belong: Jana Kotatko
Agency: Howatson+Company
Founder/CEO: Chris Howatson
Executive Creative Director: Gavin Chimes
Creative Director: Scott Zuliani
Senior Copywriter: Will Halstead
Senior Art Director: Tom Macphail
Senior Art Director: Madeleine Purdy
Head of Media: Sasha Smith
Head of Production: Holly Alexander
Producer: Caitlin Perz
Client Partner: Ollie Wearne
Senior Account Director: Angela Lethbridge
Senior Account Manager: Maddy Philips
Design Director: Ellena Mills
Junior Designer: Eleanor Donley
Finished Artist: Simon Merrifield
Media Strategy, Investment Director at Howatson+Company: Jamie Nelson
Media Implementation: OMD
Media Implementation, Business Director at OMD: Frances Meadows
Media Implementation, Account Director at OMD: Annabel Williams
Media Implementation, Account Executive at OMD: Richard Atkins
Media Implementation, Account Manager at OMD: Isabella Jordan
PR Agency: SHAPER x CLEMS
Production Company: Hooves
Director: Peter Martin
Producers: Chelsea Nieper and Rachael Morrow
Executive Producer: John Pace
Editor: Kevin Zimmerman
Post Production: Heckler
Head of VFX: Tom Corbett
ECD: Jamie Watson
Executive Producer: Carlos Zalapa
Head of Production: Amy Jarman
Flame Online: Julian Ford
Compositors: Bertrand Polivka, Nitin Amin
3D Artists: Rachael Tedesco, Dusan Marjonovic, Edward Hassan, Philip Wang, Patricio Decaud, Nick Kaloterakis
Music & Sound: Smith & Western
Voiceover Artist: Lee Perry
26 Comments
That’s good. That’s nice. I’m jealous
The 60″ spot that no one will ever see.
Great. Awesome insight.
Beautiful. Strong week for Australian advertising.
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/finnish-ad-says-your-thumbs-probably-scroll-9-kilometers-a-year-and-could-use-a-break/
Simple, visually engaging and fun. Love it.
That’s is excellent. Jealous
We’ve identified that people are addicted to their phones and as a result they have poor mental health. So we’re going to call them
out and also blame climate change on their scrolling. But don’t worry. We’re carbon offsetting it for you with some bogus credits.
Did you write this comment on your mobile phone?
Love the throat singing
Perhaps use your thumb to scroll for similar concepts . It would have taken less than 10cm.
More weird scripts in Australia pls.
Nice, seen this on TV a few times and lol’d. Prefer the version with the VO though – feels cleaner.
Yeah agree with the VO comment.
Weird. But good weird. Kinda reminds me of the Extra Dry work where the tongue goes on adventures.
Belong, do you track market share, and / or awareness of your brand? I suspect its not going well.
Scrolling less is better for the environment.
Best spots in the country right now.
Don’t get me wrong, this is bonkers and great fun. But you’ve barely started landing “It feels good to Belong”. Feels like this should have stayed tighter to that. Also, you’ve created a fucking awesome brand look and feel that’s hardly present in this. Attribution is going to be an issue.
What has Mongolian throat singing got anything to do with Mount Everest?
Thinks you owe them a beer for giving you the idea.
It’s Tibetan throat singing!
I adore the weirdness. But isn’t it quite a leap from scrolling 8,849m a month to carbon emissions?
Nice one
Link to a similar concept…check
Reference to another, vaguely similar idea…check
Questioning the concept/product because another solution might be better, even if that solution isn’t to the commercial benefit of the brand…check.
I seriously wonder about the lack of commercial acumen amongst agency folks…originality only matters if it makes the ad more effective. Sometimes borrowing an idea is a much more effective solution to deliver a return for the brand
‘originality only matters if it makes the ad more effective’ seriously?