Telenor Missed Calls: a free service that saves the voicemails people cannot bear to lose

Telenor Sweden positions itself around human connection with the concept 'Between People', in a market where rivals compete on similar phones and deals. Josephine Wallin Ankarstrand, creative director at NORD DDB, feared losing the voicemail her stepfather left her shortly before he died, and proposed that Telenor let people save such messages forever. Around 60,000 to 65,000 voicemails are left on the network every day.

Research found how far people go to preserve a voice: one person carried an old phone to keep a message from her mother, and another had not updated her phone in five years for fear of losing a message from her daughter. Grief researchers told the team that maintaining a bond with someone who has died matters, and that hearing a loved one's voice can comfort. So Telenor built Missed Calls, a free web app in which customers register their number, pass a two-step verification and download their voicemails as sound files.

The campaign film follows a man from childhood to fatherhood, holding onto his late mother's voicemail; a milk carton triggers the memory of her telling him to pick up a package, and years later he plays the message to his daughter for the first time. Real messages were used with permission. Results included more than 3.2 million in earned reach, over 3,000 downloads in the first weeks, liking at 63 percent against a 41 percent category benchmark, and consideration up six percentage points to 34 percent. The work won a Bronze Lion in Film at Cannes Lions 2024.