ENIGMA & MOBILE MUSTER WIN SBS SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE WITH “HOWEVER IT DIES” TVC
Indie Creative and Media Agency Enigma and Mobile Muster, Australia’s world-leading mobile phone recycling program have been named winners of the 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge
The win secures them $500,000 in advertising inventory to help inspire more Australians to recycle their old handsets.
The winning ad, conceived by Enigma and directed by Paul Middleditch augments Mobile Muster’s “However it Dies” creative platform with a dramatically funny everyday phone death story set in a laundromat.
Kate Young, National Manager of SBS Cultural Connect, said:
“The judges felt the idea had the strongest potential to connect emotionally with audiences and drive consumer behaviour change. It’s a clear, memorable creative platform with a strong sustainability outcome and a considered low-impact production approach.”
Mobile Muster Head of Sustainability and Social Impact, Helen Maisano, said the win provided a valuable opportunity to teach an even larger audience about the importance of mobile phone recycling.
“We are excited to receive this prize to bring this campaign to life and inspire more Australians to get their old phones out of drawers and into recycling. Mobile phone recycling is important, as it keeps potentially hazardous materials from ending up in landfill, and allows organisations to reuse those materials, which reduces the need for further mining”
she said.
Mobile Muster Marketing and Communications Manager Joel Murray praised Enigma as an outstanding partner in developing the campaign, saying:
“We’re incredibly proud of what we have achieved together, not only with this film but across the broader suite of campaign creative developed through our collaboration.”
Enigma Chief Creative Officer & Partner Simon Lee said:
“It’s always nice to be a winner, but particularly nice when winning benefits the planet. A big THANK YOU to SBS for creating this great annual initiative and a collective BRAVO to our clients Joel and Helen, our wonderful team at Enigma and Paul for creating a truly Unignorable piece of work.”
The runners up to Enigma and Mobile Muster in the 2026 SBS Sustainability Challenge were Howatson & Company with Australian Museum, Sandbox Media with Recycle All, and Focus Creative with Vehicle Emissions Star Ratings.
Credits
Client: Mobile Muster
Head of Sustainability & Social Impact: Helen Maisano
Marketing & Communications Manager: Joel Murray
Creative Agency: Enigma
Chief Creative Officer: Simon Lee
Creative Director & Writer: Cam Brown
Creative Director & Art Director: Matt Ennis
Head of Art: Aldo Ferretto
Executive Strategy Director: Jenna Russell
Managing Director: Kate Sheppard
Executive Producer: Katie Hope
Media Agency: Enigma
Executive Director Media, Enigma Media: Sally Lawrence
Senior Media Manager, Enigma Media: Sophie Rivers
Production Company: Plaza
Director: Paul Middleditch
Film Editing: The Editors
Colourist: Ben Egelton
Sound Studio: Heckler Sound
Sound Designer: Dave Robertson
Executive Producer: Bonnie Law
