For 2021 D&AD New Blood Quickfire brief, IBM invited emerging creatives to design a digital product or service for the fashion, food, or electronics industries. The product had to explore how one of these industries could develop their own circular economies – keeping sustainability at its heart and using the latest technology.
The ‘eureka’ moment came to the team while they were having their own devices repaired.
“Visiting local service spots is such a common practice here, but there remains certain doubt about their competence,” team member Nguyen Le Duy said.
“Customers are not always confident in the quality of repair parts, and many times they leave displeased as the store simply cannot carry out their requested repair due to lack of knowledge or components.
“As heavy smartphone users ourselves, we’ve had our fair share of bad experiences and felt there needed to be a change in order for these small repair shops to play into the greater circular economy.”
With this problem in mind, the team began searching potential in IBM’s products to see how they can lend a helping hand to the local repair shops.
“Our vision is to create a sustainable local repair store network that makes repairing and reusing electronics more accessible for end-users,” Duy shared.
“Independent repair stores greatly outnumber brand service centres, especially in developing countries, yet their technical capacity and reputation seem to lag far behind.
“Thus, we see connecting local repair stores and electronics brands for direct manufacturer support as a way to enhance their capabilities and leverage their untapped potential.”