Making a wireless company more sustainable?

Flying to Cleveland Tuesday for a broadcast project for a wireless telecom client.
More information if the project becomes a regular account for me, but part of the vision I have for them is to reward no-contract customers who keep their phones longer than the national average.
A tremendously hard uphill battle perhaps, when the entire industry says "update, upgrade" like an endless fashion catwalk.
One idea thanks to John Grant would be to make the handsets more individualized, personal and keepsake-like.
But I feel very upbeat about the possibilities.