HSBC Canada Surprises Customers with a Truly Global Stunt

Among many things, Canadians are known for their global perspective and diversity. People from all over the world are proud to call the country home. As an international bank, HSBC wants Canadians to take the same worldly awareness they employ and apply it to their financial portfolio. To raise awareness of their global financial expertise, HSBC Bank Canada worked with Wunderman Thompson Toronto to create a fully integrated campaign called 'Let’s meet 1 on 26'. The centrepiece of the campaign is an online video highlighting HSBC’s network of investment professionals in 26 countries. 'Let’s Meet 1 on 26' includes digital, social, and OLV.

Despite HSBC’s global presence, the bank is constantly challenged when positioning itself amongst the five big Canadian banks who employ much larger budgets.

“With a fraction of the media budget compared to other banks, the challenge is to outwit rather than outspend,” said Matt Ball, VP of strategy at Wunderman Thompson Toronto. “We took a bold approach to bring the attention of Canadians to the opportunities they could be taking advantage of when it comes to building their financial portfolios. HSBC wants their clients to know investment doesn’t have to be complicated and, as a global financial institution, their global intel distinguishes them amongst the bigger kids on the playground.”

To demonstrate their competitive advantage, HSBC Bank Canada worked with Wunderman Thompson Toronto to create 'Let’s meet 1 on 26' to explain if you’re not benefiting from HSBC’s international network, you are vulnerable to financial FOMO: missing out on global opportunities to manage your money.

'Let’s Meet 1 on 26' begins with customers entering an HSBC Bank under the guise of meeting one-on-one with an investment professional. Behind the advisor is a series of clocks from around the world. As their conversation leads to a specific region, the clock associated with that region switches to become a live web feed with an investment professional in that country. The online video emphasises the level of connectivity HSBC’s global network provides as well as the diverse expertise each advisor can contribute to the market in their location.

This campaign is a further reinforcement of HSBC Bank Canada’s overall communication strategy that highlights the power of a global perspective.

“With campaigns like ‘Let’s Meet 1 on 26,’ we want to illustrate how bringing global insights to your investments can have a really powerful impact,” said Cory Eisentraut, ECD at Wunderman Thompson Toronto. “In this way, HSBC really has a distinct advantage over their competition and we love finding fun and unexpected approaches of demonstrating that advantage.”