Telecoms · Children's tech
Piloting a new children's device
How I launched a major UK telco's first screen-free kids' device in 10 weeks.
- Client
- A major UK telco
- My role
- Senior Innovation Manager
End-to-end lead - Year
- 2026
10 weeks
From opportunity to live pilot
65,000
Customers reached
6×
Ad click-through vs baseline (3.75% vs 0.6%)
The challenge
Parents wanted to give their children independence without handing them a smartphone, but no UK telco offered a safe, screen-free first device.
What I did
To launch a new device category:
- 01
Diagnose
Framed a "first safe device" gap in the telco's family strategy, backed by a three-year business case.
- 02
Design
Vetted the partner and designed the full front- and back-end service off the core tech stack, delivering a seamless purchase across web and retail.
- 03
Prove
Ran a live pilot, including a London retail store, followed by three months of research with 8 families.
- 04
Scale / Kill
Recommended scaling in stages, releasing new spend only as each risk cleared, then handed over to BAU.
The outcome
- A new device category, with UK telco exclusivity secured
- A launch championed by retail staff, reaching children years before their first phone
- A stage-gated path to scale, with the key cost risks identified early
This summary is intentionally brief. Get in touch to see the pilot and go-to-market in detail: the device, the launch campaign and the retail roll-out.
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