A Bouygues film follows one falling phone through a couple's whole love story

Bouygues Telecom had launched 'Sustainable Smartphone Solutions' — trade-in, recycling, refurbished smartphones and repair, with subscribers able to repair at a discount twice a year — and wanted mobile users to repair rather than replace their devices.

A couple meets catching one falling phone, then years of life play out in the same slow-motion fall, set to Alicia Keys' 'Fallin'.

Directed by Vellas through Frenzy Paris, the film follows a woman and a man who meet for the first time while trying to catch a falling phone; their big and small moments over the years all play out through the slow-motion point of view of the same smartphone, with Alicia Keys' 'Fallin'' driving the soundtrack. It started airing on French TV on September 17, 2021.

The film fronted Bouygues' new repair offer — any subscriber can repair their smartphone at a discount rate up to two times per year — putting a behaviour change (repair, don't replace) at the centre of a national TV campaign.

Bouygues Telecom, the French telco, launched its 'Sustainable Smartphone Solutions' programme — trade-in, recycling, refurbished smartphones and repair, with subscribers able to get their smartphone repaired at a discount up to twice a year. The behaviour it wanted was simple: get mobile users to repair rather than replace.

The BETC Paris film that carries the message never mentions any of that. A woman and a man meet for the first time while trying to catch a falling phone — love at first sight — and the rest of their lives, big moments and small, unfolds through the slow-motion point of view of that one smartphone, still falling, as Alicia Keys' 'Fallin'' plays.

Directed by Vellas and produced by Frenzy, the spot started airing on French TV on September 17, 2021, with credits including executive creative director Stephane Xiberras, creative director Olivier Aumard, art director Jonathan Baudet-Botella and copywriter Olivier Mille.

The falling phone is the brand's argument in one image: the device survives the accident, so repair — not replacement — keeps the story going.

Alicia Keys' 'Fallin'' makes the device's literal fall the emotional spine, tying the product moment to the love story.

The whole narrative plays inside one continuous slow-motion fall, so the format itself dramatises time slowing down for a phone worth keeping.

Bouygues needed a behaviour change, not a feature demo — the film sells the habit of repairing at a discount twice a year.

A product's flaw can be the film's engine: the phone fall that would end most love stories becomes the thread that carries this one — and the argument for repairing instead of replacing.

The campaign started airing on French TV on September 17, 2021, fronting Bouygues Telecom's Sustainable Smartphone Solutions programme of trade-in, recycling, refurbished smartphones and discounted repair.