Hive's Joyous Spot Brings a Smart Home to Life 

Smart home tech brand ‘Hive’ releases a new campaign that brings to life the convenience and excitement of living in a smart home. 

Created by ‘nucleus’ and shot by HLA’s Simon Ratigan, the campaign stylistically aligns with sister brand ‘British Gas’ to shows how Hive’s range of smart home products (thermostats, lightbulbs, sensors, plugs and cameras) work seamlessly together to outsmart the chaos and keep up with the fun of life in a family home. 

Building on the eclectic point of view shooting style Simon has bought to British Gas’s most recent work, the campaign is filmed as if through the eyes of the customer. 

Extensive customer research identified that creating an ecosystem of interconnected products lies at the heart of what people search for when setting up a smart home. Better known for its stand-alone smart thermostat, this is the first Hive campaign that showcases the brands entire smart home range working together – all controlled by your voice, phone or activated with motion sensors. 

“Recognising both a change in usage and the growing importance of smart technology in customers lives, we’ve shifted our approach to truly demonstrate how Hive’s interconnected products can help families run their homes in ever more seamless ways. This new style represents an evolution in brand positioning, that puts the viewer at the heart of the action and aligns Hive to its sister brand, British Gas.” said Dan Daly, marketing director, Hive

Inspired by the needs of modern families who need their homes to be brilliant places to live, the campaign follows a typical busy day and shows how Hive can bring a little modern magic to home that are evolving to become the centre for work, rest, play, school, working out and socialising.

“We wanted to show that a Hive Smart Home isn’t all techy and futuristic. It’s technology for the here and now. For normal crazy, chaotic, beautiful family life.” said Micky Tudor, executive creative director, The&Partnership, London 

The new creative style will form the basis of all Hive marketing and communications throughout 2020 and into 2021, informing a multi-channel approach whenever a customer engages with Hive, whether that be via the website, receiving direct communications or across social channels. First party data ensures a truly personalised connection from the first moment of contact right through their customer lifetime. 

“The idea was not only to replicate the camera technique used for the British Gas 'Here to Solve’ campaign, but also to capture the charm and authenticity of real families going about their daily lives.  What made the Hive film different and, at times difficult to execute, was the need to feature and demonstrate multiple smart products in a very short space of time. This meant designing and filming the scenes in a way that allowed each of Hive’s smart products to be seamlessly and naturally integrated into the action.” said Simon Ratigan, Director, HLA Films