The Laptop Initiative calls on ad industry to help repurpose no longer needed laptops

Every year, perfectly good 3-year-old laptops are removed from corporate and agency service and sent to landfills (4 million laptops are sold in Australia every year, and a large percentage of those will end up in landfills), while large groups of vulnerable people in need (over 2 million) are without access to devices or the internet that enables most of modern life.

 

The Laptop Initiative can help, it assists in repurposing no longer needed laptops. These laptops then find new homes with charities working directly with people less fortunate, providing them with the tools they need to thrive in today’s digital world.

The Laptop Initiative along with TrinityP3 have called upon the creative advertising industry to get the message out there and there are three ways you can help:

1. Firstly, see if your agency can donate some laptops (ask your leader)
2. Contact your clients to see if they can donate some too
3. Create a behavioral change campaign organically within LinkedIn to influence your connections and corporates across Australia (Download the brief here) and using the hashtag #thelaptopinitiative

Says Cheryl Sing, founder, The Laptop Initiative: “There’s been a great response from the creative community on LinkedIn so far, but the more people who know about us, the more people we can help. We welcome more creative to be put out into the world.”

Says Pat Langton, founder, Hook Creative Studio: “When I saw the call out for agencies to get involved with The Laptop Initiative we had to take part, it’s such a great cause and it would be great to see what agencies can come up with. We have such a huge amount of talent here in Australia so we’re excited to see what agencies will do.”

Says Anton Buchner, marketing management consultant at TrinityP3: “We’ve had over 30 people/agencies download the brief so far. And the first one has launched on LinkedIn, but let’s not stop there. We encourage all agencies in Australia to get involved.”

The more agencies get involved the better chance there is in spreading the word. Every 3 to 4 years companies replace their laptops, 4 million laptops are sold in Australia annually and only 10% of old laptops are recycled and tons go to landfill.

If you would like to get involved download the brief here or visit www.thelaptopinitiative.com.au to find out more about this important initiative.