To build a valuable and differentiated brand by communicating that HSBC understands and respects that people around the world are different, and HSBC has local knowledge of them all.HSBC harness this local expertise from all over the world because they believe good ideas and practices in money management can come from anywhere to the benefit of customers everywhere.

No premium paid for the editorial synergy. Research proved 58% readers agreed HSBC respects and understands local cultures, 30% agreed the EAT features enhanced the advertising and 24% agreed they better understood the HSBC campaign because of the editorial synergy. HSBC debuted on Interbrand’s latest global list at 37, with a brand value of US$7.8 Billion. EAT was considered influential in creating this vast increase in HSBC’s brand value.

In an unprecedented and innovative agreement, Wall Street Journal was persuaded weekly to release details of their Friday/Sat/Sun EAT editorial prior publication. Tailor made HSBC advertisements, featuring unique culinary examples were created. Countries depicted in adverts were synergistic with countries in the editorial. The media and message were therefore integrated as one. The campaign featured 28 countries including some of the world’s best restaurants which the affluent audience has the financial success to frequent.

EAT touched the target audience in their core media title for a sustaining 16 month campaign period. To increase touch points with HSBC’s affluent audience a beautiful bespoke booklet of the series was created and placed in HSBC ‘Premier’ centers worldwide. These exclusive HSBC Premier Account holders are HSBC’s highest net worth customers.A number of the exclusive Asian restaurants featured in the editorial were partnered with HSBC and provided discounts and special offers for HSBC card users.

Consumer insights identified cuisine and dining etiquette as the most engaging and identifiable difference among cultures. Our agency research study showed across a selection of campaigns, that placement of synergistic advertising directly related to editorial content had the quantifiable effect of making the advertising more effective and engaging.The target audience for the HSBC campaign was ‘upmarket global affluents’. The Wall Street Journal was found to achieve the highest reach for this audience in 21 key HSBC markets. (It is often considered the daily bible for this target audience).