As a luxury branding agency, SUM recognised that in a home security category increasingly shaped by rapid digital transformation, the celebration in 2026 of Banham’s centenary year is not solely a marking of time. Instead it presents an opportunity to reflect on the brand’s difference from its competitors, rooted in a hundred years of innovation and luxury craft, under the ongoing leadership of the Banham family.
In telling this story to both customers and the company’s staff, it was decided that an animated long-form video should be created and produced by SUM.
The narrative begins with a necessity. Following a series of break-ins at his wife’s shop in West London, William F Banham invented the automatic deadlock, establishing a pattern of engineering-led problem solving that continues to define the company today. Over the years the company has expanded across London and the South-East, serving many of the region’s finest homes.
Having survived a direct hit to one of its stores during the Second World War, the company continued to patent new lock and cylinder designs. Leadership has now passed through four generations of the Banham family, embedding long-term stewardship alongside innovation.
The launch of high-quality alarm systems and the first computerised alarm-receiving centre in 1981 further signalled Banham’s technological ambition. Keyholding and rapid response services then extended protection beyond the products themselves, introducing a human dimension to a home secured with Banham. Investment in the Banham Academy and a continued focus on British manufacturing have reinforced the brand’s long-term commitment to training and British craftsmanship.
Visually, the film adopts a stylised illustrative approach, combining archive photographs, drawings, film, and graphics. These elements have been collaged into layered compositions, narrated by voiceover and anchored through graphic date captions. Elegant transitions create a seamless flow across the decades. The restrained black-and-white palette reinforces continuity throughout the video.
All told, Banham’s century-long heritage has been framed as the foundation for sustained trust, craft, and leadership. Yet there is a further important aspect to the creative approach. For SUM, the project demonstrates how a luxury-focused strategy twinned with an engaging narrative approach, can transform a functional history into a living emotional connection to a brand that, since its inception, has never stopped innovating in the service of its customers and the homes they protect.
