A campaign running on a distinctly "unsmart" feature phone took home the top prize in the mobile category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week.
'TKTBKS' transforms feature phones into mobile textbooks for students in need in the Philippines and was developed by Smart Communications and DDB agency DM9 JaymeSyfu. According to the agency, the aim of the initiative was to solve the issue of the decreasing use of textbooks in a country where many people cannot afford tablets or e-readers and where most families own old feature phones.
Over six months, the campaign saw Smart Communications and DDB working with textbook publishers to condense the books into text messages. The messages were then put onto old SIM cards, resulting in repackaged 'Smart TXTBKS'. "So it turned even the oldest analogue phones into a new kind of e-reader, and old text SIM cards into a new brand of textbook," the agency says.
"In developed countries, tablets and e-readers have become the solution to large, heavy textbooks. But for Philippine public school students, even the cheapest model is worth more than what their families make in an entire month. In fact, the only gadgets most of them own are one to two old analogue mobile phones, used mainly for texting," the campaign's Cannes submission read.
The campaign was launched in partner schools that needed it most, using an old tech solution to make a profound impact by reducing the weight of students' bags, and improving attendance and academic performance, the submission continues.
According to jury chairman, Rei Inamoto, chief creative officer of ad agency AKQA, mobile was an especially interesting category because it was so pervasive, but also so new. "I think it's an unexpected Grand Prix winner," said Inamoto. "It's not the most technically advanced entry, and in fact, it's a little bit backwards." But the jury found the campaign compelling because it was more about the idea than about the technology behind it.
And the campaign is set to expand. Plans are already under way for a national rollout of the concept with more subjects and grade levels.
"Some day, we'll [be able to] afford to give every child a tablet," said Philippine chairperson for the committee for economic affairs, senator Manny Villar. "But we have to start with something today. And this is the perfect start."
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