Defining premium from the ground up
Premium is a loaded word. Applied to refurbished goods, it can feel like a contradiction. Our job was to make it feel inevitable. We started with research — understanding how Swappie's customers thought about quality, trust, and value when buying a used device. What made them hesitant, what made them confident, and where the existing language around refurbished tech was falling short. From there, we moved into proposition design: defining what the Premium tier actually stands for, what criteria a device must meet to qualify, and how that translates into a customer promise. The 52-step inspection process Swappie already uses gave us a strong foundation. The work was about surfacing that rigour, making it legible, and building a proposition around it that could command a premium price with complete credibility.
Buying a refurbished iPhone through Swappie is 78% less carbon intensive than buying a new device. The Premium Series makes that environmental case alongside a quality case — both matter to the customer Swappie is targeting.
A new category, not a new campaign
The Swappie Premium Series is the top 1% of devices Swappie sells. They are, as the proposition puts it, just like new — but better. Better because they've been inspected, verified, and backed by a guarantee that a new phone doesn't come with. The work we delivered wasn't a campaign brief. It was a strategic platform: a clear definition of what Premium means for Swappie, how it's communicated, and what the commercial and environmental story is. That platform then informed how the series is presented — from the product page through to payment options and the buyback guarantee that closes the circular loop. Swappie was already leading the European market for refurbished iPhones. This work gave them a way to lead it on their own terms, in a category they defined.
The Premium Series launched with a buyback guarantee — which is itself a circular product feature, not just a safety net. It reflects the logic of the whole proposition: extending the life of every device, as many times as possible.
Next projects.
(2016-25©)
