AUCKLAND, Today: Lightforce Solar has gone live with a new national TV campaign aimed at making solar feel like a straightforward, mainstream choice for Kiwi households.
Called The Future Is Obvious, the campaign uses humour, familiarity and a quietly confident tone to move solar away from politics and technical talk, and into the territory of everyday Kiwi common sense.
At the centre is Kevin Barrett, father of Beauden, Scott and Jordie Barrett, cast not as a celebrity, but as someone whose practical instincts and lived experience make him the most believable voice in the room.
Rather than leaning on the fame of his sons, the campaign flips expectations and puts the family patriarch front and centre, using Kevin’s quiet authority to make the message land in a more natural way.
The work came from strategist and creative David (DT) Thomason, alongside creatives Paul Taylor and Corey Chalmers, following a brief from Lightforce Solar owner John Harman to help grow both the brand and the wider category.
“Solar had become accidentally positioned as a political or lifestyle statement,” says Thomason. “Facts and savings alone weren’t shifting behaviour. It was a cultural challenge, solar simply wasn’t ‘normal’ yet. The strategy was to make it feel inevitable. Kevin embodied that logic perfectly.”
The brand platform, “It’s bloody obvious,” shaped both the tone and execution, drawing on classic Kiwi advertising cues like humour, understatement and broad appeal rather than education-led messaging or tech-heavy explanations.
“It was one of those rare productions where everything landed exactly as planned, including the humour.” – Lyle Hastings, Lightforce Solar Marketing Manager
The campaign took another turn during development when Harman signed the Barretts, with the idea shifting away from sporting star power and toward Kevin as a more surprising and credible lead.
“It turned what could have been a cliché into something much funnier and far more truthful,” says Thomason. “Kevin isn’t trying to convince anyone. He just knows.”
Lightforce Solar has been rolling the campaign out in stages, with the Barrett brothers appearing across outdoor and digital over recent months, helping generate early business uplift before the full story landed on screen.
Directed by James Anderson, the production needed careful planning to get all four Barretts together, with filming completed during a tightly scheduled shoot window.
“It was one of those rare productions where everything landed exactly as planned, including the humour” says Lyle Hastings, Lightforce Solar Marketing Manager. “It’s the perfect overarching piece of content before we introduce the next phase of the campaign, expanding into environments that allow for deeper messaging.”
The finished TVC, featuring Lightforce Solar’s new audio branding, launched nationally on April 5th and marks the brand’s biggest above-the-line investment so far.
“I haven’t felt this confident in a new campaign’s effectiveness since I first saw the Tina from Turners ads,” says Thomason. “Kevin is going to be hugely popular. It’s obvious.”
CREDITS
Brand: Lightforce Solar – John Harman (Owner), Lyle Hastings (Marketing Manager), Julian Wilson (Digital Marketing Specialist), Thomas Peter (Creative and Content Creator), Shaan Rama (Marketing Assistant)
Strategy & Creative: David (DT) Thomason
Creatives: Paul Taylor, Corey Chalmers
Director: James Anderson
Agency: OM Content – Angela Spain (OM managing director), Katie Walton (chief content officer), Stephanie Walsh (senior account manager)
Media: Hearts & Science – Anna Cockram (group business director), Briar Rowsell (account director), Latisha Modak (senior digital manager), Ji Luo (account executive)
Share this Post
