Results and Effectiveness

The two key pillars of premium-quality and special category media buys are delivering unprompted consumer feedback. Internally, the HSBC Vietnam Marketing Manager has given very positive feedback "Incredible! From start to finish” and “this TV branded sponsorship has inspired our CEO and we have been requested to invest more and expand to an integrated digital and print campaign”. And, all this is even before the post-campaign brand health results are complete.

Creative Execution

Whereas a TVC ‘sells’ to you, branded content involves you. We negotiated a special category, prime position in break on 5 cable channels giving greater frequency and penetration than FTA in the key target cities and added a national FTA channel to give reach. We allocated special category efficiency savings for premium-quality production values. The content flowed on seamlessly from the programming rather than intruded as a TVC would. We took the approach that, by illustrating in a very engaging way, the bank was approachable and genuinely involved in Vietnam and it's people. We created 3 stories of 60 seconds about social entrepreneurs who were doing wonderful, genuine humanitarian work and had them tell their story. They didn't even talk about the bank. The next 2 stories of 120 seconds built on this, but were narrated by business entrepreneurs and weaved in HSBC as their trusted local partner in business.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

HSBC had an image that was considered too exclusive, too international. The bank had done an excellent job of communicating the global and local nature of the business, however, the localized versions of the regional TVC's were not creating the emotional response from the target audience or mainstream consumers. Consumer surveys revealed that Vietnamese regarded the institution as "too premium for me", and did not feel the bank was suitable for their needs as ordinary people.