Belong Invites Australians to ‘Scroll Good’

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 on their 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. 

Head of product and marketing at Belong, Aaliah Eggins-Bryson, says: "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.” 

Gavin Chimes, ECD at Howatson+Company, adds: “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.