This clever ad will really make you think about the energy you use

A new ad for Smart Energy GB encouraging people in the U.K. to install smart meters in their homes turns what could have been a fairly dull-but-worthy brief into a highly watchable film.

Directed by Simon Ratigan of HLA for AMV BBDO, the well-crafted spot highlights how much energy we use over the course of a day in a cleverly crafted and edited montage of different moments (The Mill was responsible for post). From the morning wakeup call of the alarm clock to the bedtime story and everything in between, the minute-long spot builds in pace and intensity a bit like an overloaded circuit to illustrate all the times we use energy without even thinking about it. It's well-observed and really hammers home the message that we should watch what we consume without resorting to preachiness.