2015 highly commended: Hive, New Brand - case study

Executive summary

This awards entry tells the story of British Gas’ journey to take charge of the UK connected homes market, launching a new brand called Hive, by British Gas.

In 2012, the Internet Of Things revolution was picking up pace in the UK. British Gas saw an opportunity in the connected homes category; as experts in the home it was a logical step.

Thus, in 2012, they released the first widely available product, Remote Heating Control. But it struggled to gain traction. People simply didn’t expect innovation from British Gas- the brand was a barrier to immediate sales growth and we were failing to take hold of the category.

Our solution: build a new brand - Hive, by British Gas

British Gas worked dynamically with the research company to get our new brand ready in just 25 weeks, pinpointing the right audience, a compelling purpose, a bold name, memorable visual identity and fresh brand personality.

They launched with a distinctive creative campaign to drive awareness and consideration of a new product and a new brand, in a new category in the UK. Running across broadcast, print and digital, it used real time data digital out-of-home to contextualise our message, highlighting product use cases.

The campaign was a huge success, beating targets for prompted awareness and consideration by 16% and 25% respectively. And sales rocketed, jumping from 500 a week under British Gas to 4600 with Hive. In one year they had become clear market leaders, selling 150,000 units and beating our sales target by 50%.

British Gas felt the effect too; 54% of British Gas customers felt more positive about the brand when they were told Hive was part of the British Gas family. Awareness of Hive boosted associations of British Gas being innovative by 14%.

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(Please note: parts of this case study may have been redacted for confidentiality purposes.)