Belong launches offline wormhole to overcome phone limbo via Howatson+Company
Belong, with Howatson+Company, has today launched The Book of Limbo, an offline online wormhole designed to keep Australians entertained while they set up their new phone.
The book has been created to help people navigate ‘phone limbo’ – the period of disconnection that occurs when you transfer all your data from an old device to your new one. A time devoid of memes, factoids and the wonders of the internet.
The Book of Limbo is designed to be the world’s first offline online wormhole, channelling the joyful chaos of the internet into over 100 pages of left field content. Ever wondered about whale poop, reverse centaurs, the Queen’s hat collection and giant squids? Well, The Book of Limbo has you covered. It even contains the entire edition of Alice in Wonderland printed over eight pages.
Says Jana Kotatko, CEO, Belong: “If you have an embarrassing amount of photos on your phone like me, transferring everything over to a new device can be a time consuming experience. With more than 8m[1] new handsets purchased last year, it’s become a universal feeling.
“The Book of Limbo is our way of making phone limbo a joyful moment, while also sharing our love for all of the weird and wonderful content the internet has to offer.”
The Book of Limbo has been created in partnership with some of Australia’s best multimedia artists, including Andrew van der Westhuyzen and Indigenous artist Saltwater Dreamtime.
The original artworks were created using CGI, Illustration, and the internet itself, via GAN (generative adversarial network) technologies.
The back page of every copy includes a free Belong mobile SIM card with $80 credit to use in Australia, enabling readers to re-enter the real internet after their new phone is set up.
Says Gavin Chimes, ECD, Howatson+Company: “There’s nothing like losing yourself in a good book. And there’s nothing like getting lost in the depths of an internet wormhole. We’ve found a way to combine the two and bring joy to that period of nothingness when you’re stuck between two phones.”
The limited-edition Book of Limbo is available to pre-order online at www.belong.com.au/bookoflimbo, with a digital edition and an audio edition being made available for those that can’t secure a physical copy.
This latest work comes less than three months after Belong announced the appointment of Howatson+Company as its creative and media strategy agency of record. Earlier this month, Howatson+Company launched Belong’s new fully integrated brand platform, ‘It feels good to Belong’, extending across brand communications, product, sim card packaging, website, UI/UX, staff collateral and more.
Client: Belong
Creative: Howatson+Company
Media strategy: Howatson+Company
Media trading and buying: OMD
Production Company, Book: Collider Studio
Founder, Creative Director: Andrew van der Westhuyzen
Creative Director / Strategy: Kåre Martens
CGI Artist: Hugh Carrick-Allan
Head of Studio Production: Hoss Ghonouie
Artist and owner Saltwater Dreamtime: Zac Bennett-Brook
Printers: Peachy Print
Director of Production: Bruce Cameron
Sales Director: Garry Gorman
Production Company, Films: Collider Studio
Music Composition & Audio Production, Films: Heckler Sound
PR: Clemenger PR
39 Comments
This is very good stuff. The first time in my life I’ve seen work that actually makes a telco look cool.
Super smart work that feels fresh for the category. Not gonna lie, I want a copy.
Absolutely something to admire.
Genuinely excellent work. Congrats.
Smells like award porn
Did you only make one copy for the case study?
did the print book ever exist? it’s already not available …
Doesn’t feel very carbon neutral to me
idiot
…Nice case study tho
A book to explain this idea. Very confusing guys.
Still the worst internet provider I’ve ever had.
And some nice craft in the book. Hope it does exist, I’d love a copy.
I want one ?
Way to live and breath the Belong brand. Carbon neutral, good for the world. Unless there’s an award show coming up, then let’s put as much energy and waste into a heavy book.
This doesn’t even exist and is just a bad version of the Postmates work from Mother LA
This really solves the problem of being a bad provider – a distraction.
It’s beautiful. But holy hell how do you make sense of an elaborate print job for a carbon neutral service provider? Wildly off brand of the brand is what you preached last week?
Was printed, produced and sourced on Gadigal land, using nearly all sustainable materials. The entire footprint of the book has been entirely carbon offset.
Beautiful can be environmental
Vanity project.
Yes I’ve got one, they’re not only all recycled blah blah, but also stunning and are a pretty solid wormhole to get stuck into, I especially love the way the whole Alice in Wonderland story is in there too, but not in pictures, just old school text..
Very cool and un-telco like work
…are terms developed by the petroleum and mining industry to make us feel shit about ourselves instead of going after them. Can we all stop falling back to ‘offsetting’ our shitness. And maybe just don’t be shit in the first place.
That also includes not ‘needing to get’ a new phone every-time an updated model comes out right?
There’s no physical book, only an e-book, which is on the internet – but your phone is off – so you can’t see it.
Hmm..
What a pretty solution to a non-existent problem.
Of course you’ve got one. You work there.
…Found in the re-cycling bin.
Classic CHEp award fodder from Howatson. Create a limited run of something nobody wants, PR the hell out of it. Job done.
Even the singing rocks are scratching their marbles. I like it.
Say what you angry MFs want, but this is the sexiest piece of design I’ve seen in a long time. I AM LUSTING AFTER A BOOK BY A TELCO. HOW?! This is so bloody good. This was put together within THREE MONTHS of winning the account. This is outrageously good. Using GAN tech with such a stupidly perfect strat of getting lost in a good book. Get out H+C, Gav Chimes and team. Stick a fork in me.
Why not credits?
Say what you like about the design, is phone limbo an actual real problem? Don’t people just watch TV?
Distraction and self indulgence.
We are a carbon neutral service provider. We’re neutral because we offset the carbon we use by paying for credits. This book created around 30 tonnes of carbon to print. We’ll offset 30 tonnes of carbon for roughly $300aud and feel good about it. Thanks
How many did you make?
Nail on the head
Everyday? Not so much. Looks cool tho.
HOYEAAAHHHH?