Good Tings is the world’s first, first phones programme designed by New Zealand telco 2degrees, giving children and parents the tools they need to learn healthier smartphone behaviours.

Typically, the unboxing moment is owned by phone manufacturers like Apple or Samsung. We positively interrupted this moment with an unboxing before the unboxing experience which takes children on a journey to understand and agree healthy phone behaviours before they receive their first phone.

Art direction was critical in ensuring every fold, tear and lift was engaged with through an engaging experience inspired by UK street culture.

‘End the phone-based childhood now’ - The Atlantic

‘How cell phones are killing our kids, and what we can do about it’ - CNN

From UK politicians looking to ban the sale of smartphones to under 16s, to the US Senate demanding action from big tech to protect children online, unhealthy phone use among young people has reached crisis point.

A generation raised on smartphones are suffering from attention issues, anxiety and depression like never before; mental health concerns are two-and-a-half times more prevalent than they were 10 years ago, while threats such as sextortion have increased 89% in the last five years alone. There is now wide ranging evidence to link this rise in mental health problems with device usage.

Yet, despite the concerns and harm surrounding phone usage, big tech continues to monetise children's attention and engineer experiences to addict our children to their phones from day one without any accountability. While other milestones that come with risks, such as learning to drive, require a licence, there is no effective training offered when a child receives their first smartphone.

App restrictions & current safety advice are not effective enough. Kids have become savvy to work around walled gardens, education is dull, not impactful and not engaged with. And as Netsafe, our online safety partner shares, hard and fast rules around phone use don’t work; we have to empower and educate children around good phone behaviours.

Giving young people this knowledge is as critical as a driver licence.

Smartphones are vital tools in today’s digital world. However, educating children from the day they get their first smartphone is critical. Research told us 71% of parents are unsure how to navigate this conversation at a time when children are applying pressure for early, unrestricted access.

As a responsible telco known for ‘fairness’, 2degrees wanted to positively affect this milestone. By focusing on the moment a child receives their first smartphone, we could help children create a healthier relationship with their phones from day one while driving brand saliency.

Specifically, our objectives were to:

Make life demonstrably fairer for children & their parents when receiving a first phone

Drive further fame for 2degrees as the fairest telco in New Zealand

Increase footfall into 2degrees stores, enabling the business to see an uplift in sales

This ambition needed to be reached on a budget of $850,000 including media.

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Internet safety is dull and complicated, distant from the excitement that comes with unboxing a new phone. Taking cues from the best unboxing experiences and emerging youth culture in New Zealand, we developed an art directional style that brought together entertainment, discovery and education to create life-lasting digital behaviours.

Every element of the art direction was a phone safety lesson in disguise: the visual design and track tapped into emerging youth trends of grime music and street culture, creating experiences kids couldn’t miss and taught them invaluable lessons. Sticker packs let kids plaster our messages on their belongings, enabling them to spread the message further through their belongings.

We designed prototypes and tested these with teens and parents, refining the art direction and experience to ensure it easily delivered the lessons, while being so entertaining kids would tell their mates about it.