Smart household objects come to life after dark in a whimsical new ad for HP that tries to highlight how its latest printers are intelligent too. 

HP's agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners turned to Park Pictures’ Lance Acord to bring some movie-like magic to the spot. The story stars a cast of smart object “characters” who enter their own "Toy Story"-like drama after the household goes to bed. They include a smart speaker, security camera, coffee machine and a cute robot vacuum cleaner, each endowed with distinctive facial expressions rendered via lights and symbols. 

The printer is the new kid on the block. The vacuum cleaner approaches it inquisitively, only to be told by the bossy speaker that “printers can’t be smart." However, she's proved wrong; the plucky printer goes on to save the day after the vacuum gets chased by the family cat—it turns on and off automatically to print out a picture of a mouse to distract the kitty and wins the respect of the other machines. 

 “We had originally called the idea ‘The Symphony of Smart’ after noticing the secret language that exists between smart objects already in our home. They can talk, respond, have expressions," said Laura Petruccelli, executive creative director at GS&P in a statement. ”We wanted HP to bring to life a new part of the story we hadn’t yet seen between the objects we live with every day with our printer as the brand new smart kid on the block.” 

As well as Acord, the director behind VW’s famous Super Bowl ad “The Force” and Xfinity’s ET holiday spot, as well as in the movie world as a cinematographer and director, GS&P tapped other talent from the film world including editor Kirk Baxter ("The Social Network"), production designer James Chinlund, sound designer Martín Hernández and composer Robert Miller.

"We all had so much fun on this project," added Acord. "For me the idea really clicked once we were able to clearly define the personality of each device. From the overly enthusiastic high energy vacuum, to the bug-eyed paranoid home security camera, to the sarcastic hard-to- impress home-assistant,  each device had a unique character within the story."

The spot is running in the U.S. on social media, online and connected TV, and will likely roll out in other markets including France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Coming after soaring sales of home printers during the pandemic, its aim is to underline how HP's printers and smart app now offer features such as ordering their own ink, Wi-Fi connection self-healing and more.

“People expect their technology to intuitively work for them, so we’re proud to bring a smarter way of printing to consumers,” added Deepak Masand, Global Head of Marketing, HP Imaging, Printing and Solutions. “This campaign celebrates the arrival of a new printing frontier.”