With environmental campaigns, Hanwha, a global solar panel manufacturer, aspired to position itself as a sustainable brand and emphasize the need for sustainable solar energy. We strategized the best method for consumers to recognize its benefits and decided to save the bees from extinction with solar panels: with the Solar Beehive campaign. Despite being a B2B brand, Hanwha gained a sustainable brand reputation, by adding the keywords ‘sustainable’, and ‘eco-friendly’ to Hanwha. Proving its effectiveness on honeybee conservation, the Solar Beehive was presented at the Davos World Economic Forum, further giving Hanwha an edge in the global market.

Globally, the honeybee population is drastically declining. Environmental organizations (UN, Greenpeace, etc) name climate change as its biggest cause. Bees, as temperature-sensitive creatures, could not adapt to the unprecedented abnormal climate. The extinction of honeybees affects not just 90% of wild flora, but also the animals and people who feed on those, and further the entire biodiversity. To spearhead the conservation of the honeybee population, we utilized solar panels to protect the honeybees from climate change by manufacturing a smart beehive: the Solar Beehive. With the Solar Beehive, we contribute to the Earth’s biodiversity, and eventually remark the B2B brand Hanwha as a sustainable brand to the public, raising the favorability and the reputation.

The Solar Beehive is a smart beehive optimized to protect honeybees from abnormal climates. What’s special about the Solar Beehive is the ‘bee-friendly design’. From the bee entrance size, depth of feed container, temperature-humidity controller position, and the exterior design, everything was designed to be ‘bee-friendly’ so that honeybee can thrive in an optimal environment.

Four smart devices (Water & Food supply / Temperature & humidity control / CO2 concentration control / Hornet intrusion detection & blocking) were installed to provide the best honeybee habitat. All electrical power for these features is sourced from the solar panels installed on the exterior roof, without emitting carbon.

We wanted the Solar Beehive to not stop at just increasing the honeybee population in Korea. We displayed collected data from the Solar Beehive on the website so that anyone in the world can access our data for honeybee

When preparing for this PR campaign, Korea suffered a severe honeybee extinction problem (about 7.8 billion bees died), causing a major social issue. Our bold strategy started here. Hanwha, which was unrelated to honeybees, used solar panels to create a beehive that saves bees, making headlines while also raising brand awareness and familiarity as a sustainable brand.

What’s most important about this strategy is ‘authenticity’. We didn’t want this campaign to be just another example of greenwashing. We collaborated with the Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries, and after 6 months of development process manufactured the beehive that provides optimal habitat for the honeybees regardless of the exterior climate. For sustainable operation, we donated the Solar Beehive to the university that studies honeybees. A scholarly paper also proved its effectiveness. All the process was revealed on SNS and received sincere public support.

Solar Beehive was launched on World Bee Day, May 20, 2022, with process film including design and production. A website was opened, sharing collected data in real-time. Following November, a paper using this data proved the Solar Beehive’s effectiveness on honeybee growth.

Since its launch, a public participation campaign started promoting planting flowers, and feeding honeybees. Nationwide, about 1,300 people voluntarily planted a total of 2,000 flower seeds.

- 6 months on feature selection, development, and production (Production period: 2021 December - 2022 May)

- 6 months on exterior design and production (Design period: 2021 December-2022 February. Production Period: 2022 March-May)

- Operational to this day for honeybees since the World Bee Day launch, May 20, 2022.

- Campaign film was on-air for 2 months. (Media Execution Period: July 5, 2022-September 15, 2022)

- Exterior structure: about $99,500

- Beehive (4ea) including software & server development: about $114,500

1. Process film including the Solar Beehive design and production reached a total of 39,211,843 views on YouTube, accounting for 85% of the Korean population. Remarkably, the majority of viewers were millennials and Gen Zs, highly interested in environmental issues.

2. 98% being positive mentions on Solar Panel and Hanwha.

Post-campaign, positive mentions about Hanwha increased 2.6 times.

3. Solar Beehive web traffic: Since the website launch in September 2022, publishing two papers proving the effectiveness of the Solar Beehive following November.

1. Thanks to this campaign, Hanwha’s renewable energy division recorded a billion USD in sales in the third quarter, which is a 61% increase in profit compared to the past year.

2. Presented at the 2023 Davos World Economic Forum as an excellent example of conserving biodiversity, giving Hanwha an edge in the global market.

1. Starting with the government agency that oversees the nation’s apiary industry, smart features of the Solar Beehive are now used by beekeepers nationwide to stop the honeybee extinction.

2. The Solar Beehive is donated as educational material to the Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries to train future apiarists on smart beekeeping methods and honeybee conservation.

3. Cumulated data from the Solar Beehive can be downloaded from the website. This data will provide a key to stopping the honeybee extinction.

Due to the climate crisis, Korea was not an exception to severe climate anomalies. At the time of the campaign ideation, the death of 7.8 billion temperature-sensitive honeybees from an abnormal climate was a critical issue. This problem is both a threat to biodiversity and an economic menace. The apiary industry accounts for 400 million USD in size, and the mass deaths of honeybees by the climate crisis would eventually lead to the collapse of beekeeping farms in Korea.