While the connection between smartphone recycling and the Rugby World Cup might not be intuitive, the team found a meaningful link to encourage this sustainable practice and tap into the excitement surrounding the World Cup: Orange launched Phone2Gold, the first-ever recycling program that transforms old smartphones into the official Rugby World Cup medals.
To encourage widespread smartphone recycling across France, Havas Play brought in French rugby player and brand ambassador Sébastien Chabal for an engaging video explaining the Phone2Gold program. All rugby clubs in France were made available as phone collection points to encourage donations from players, and Orange served as collection points for the wider public.
With the public more engaged than ever before in recycling their smart phones, Orange partnered with specialized organizations — Ateliers du Bocage, WeeeCycling, and Lebronze Alloys –for all the logistics of converting these phones: reception & sorting, metal extraction, raw material preparation, and metal molding, & peeling. To address consumer skepticism, Orange and Havas Play broke down the entire recycling process in a step-by-step video that showed the public how their phones could be repurposed into gold medals.
The recycled medals were amplified through press event at La Monnaie de Paris, Orange’s YouTube and Instagram accounts, French rugby player’s socials, and at the Rugby World Cup in fan zones, providing moments of brand awareness with key audiences.
