Two and a half million New Zealanders, more than half the country with a mobile, now hold a wallet that pays for their next phone. We worked with One NZ from the first sketch through to live and growing.
Upgrade cycles felt painful and impersonal, telco loyalty programmes felt like an afterthought, and most New Zealanders couldn't really tell one provider apart from another. One NZ wanted a real reason for customers to stay, grow, and spend more with them, and they wanted it to feel like nothing else in the market.
The brief on paper was a rewards programme. The opportunity underneath was much bigger.
We worked alongside One NZ from the first sketch through to live and growing, ideating the product, building it, and shaping the experience that surrounds it. The decision that shaped everything was treating Phone Dollars as real currency. Not points, not a vague gesture, but a unit that translates directly into the price of someone's next phone. The honesty of that mechanic does a lot of the heavy lifting on its own.
We pushed for the wallet to be open to anyone in New Zealand with a mobile number, not just One NZ customers. On paper that sounded counterintuitive for a telco loyalty platform. In practice it turned One Wallet from a retention tool into a national acquisition engine.
Phone Dollars accrue through Bill Bonus, plan connections, trade-ins, partner spend, and welcome boosts. Every dollar in the wallet translates one-to-one against an interest-free phone. The mechanic is transparent on purpose.
"Your smartphone is like a remote control for your life. It's one of the most important purchases you'll own. We wanted to help make that easier and more affordable for our loyal customers, via One Wallet."
Two years on, One Wallet is held by two and a half million New Zealanders. Engaged business customers churn at half the rate of those who aren't. Forty-one percent of iPhone 17 interest-free plan sales came through the wallet, up from just over one percent the year before, making it the single most important commercial channel for the biggest device launch of the year.
The product was named a finalist in the 2026 Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards. The wallet that started as a way to make phone upgrades feel better is now a loyalty platform the rest of the market is studying.
A confirmed quote from the One NZ side of the work goes here. Holding placeholder until the real quote is signed off.