HSBC Pink Ladies Campaign - Report Example

Promotional Practice Report (PPR) for HSBC pink ladies campaign Brief introduction to the organisation or brand, and the campaign About HSBC HSBCis one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. The company was founded in 1865 as an organization to finance trade between the West and Asia. Nowadays, the company operates globally as international bank, operating in 74 countries and territories and serving approximately 52 million customers. The company’s headquarter is located in London, UK. The company operates in four major business segments, including: commercial banking, global banking and markets, private banking, retail banking and wealth management (HSBC website, n.d.). About HSBC pink ladies campaign In December, 2014 HSBC has rolled out a TV advertisement on Christmas Day (Spary, 2014). The campaign is launched at Christmas and thus creates an atmosphere of dreams’ fulfilment. The advertisement with a creative name “Pink Ladies” tells the story of the supporting network of pink ladies who help young, ambitious and goal-oriented (Spary, 2014). The story is centred on a young hairdresser who dreams about further study of fashion designer, but who does not have enough funds for implementing this dream to reality (Spary, 2014). A group of women with pink hair pay for study of this woman, and thus help the dreams of a young lady to come true. Thus, HSBC advertises its Advance bank account. 2. Brief discussion of campaign objectives The primary objective of the “Pink Ladies campaign” was to support the relaunch of HSBC’s Advance bank account (Spary, 2014). By this campaign, HSBC aimed to increase awareness about its bank products among young ambitious consumers. In addition to increased brand/product awareness the objectives of the campaign could be formulated in the following way: to spread the message across its target audience, to build trust to the bank, and to foster decision to become a client of a HSBC. 3. Brief discussion of the target audience for the campaign Identification of target audience is one of the initial activities before development of any marketing or advertising activity. Based on the information presented in the “Pink Ladies” campaign it is possible to identify the audience that the company is aiming to reach. First of all, the campaign targets young people, who are ambitious and goal-oriented, and who seek for career/professional or personal development. This category of people needs some support and funding in order to achieve their goals. More likely that this category also included young adults with entrepreneurial skills who want to start their own business but do not have sufficient fund for it. The campaign also appeals to the parents of young adults who seek for higher education opportunities, as parents/relatives also contribute to education expenses to some extent and they are more likely to be involved in decision-making process (Mitskavets, 2014). 4. Promotional tools used in the campaign HSBC has utilized several promotional tools used in the campaign including the following: Traditional advertising (TV, cinema); Online marketing (Social media, social networking websites). 5. Media mix used in the campaign For its campaign the company has utilized several media channels including the following: Broadcast – television and cinemas (Adler, 2015); Social media – YouTube channel (Youtube.com, 2015); New Media - www.together.hsbcadvance.com (Adler, 2015). 6. Suitability of the promotional tools and media used in the campaign In order to roll out the Pink Ladies campaign HSBC has utilized available tools and media, including both traditional marketing tools and online marketing tools. Traditional marketing tools included TV and Cinema advertisement; online marketing tools included social media platforms such as YouTube and HSBC website. More detailed review and analysis of each promotional tool used for advertising of the “Pink Ladies” campaign is given below. TV advertisement In order to promote its banking products and services, HSBC concentrated on emotional appeal rather than on empty product claims. While financial services advertising is often direct and dry in terms of content, HSBC has approached its marketing strategy in different, emotional-into-action approach (MRS Awards, 2013). HSBC has recognized the power of emotional advertising, and thus has launched the “Pink Ladies” campaign. The length of the advertisement was optimal. The overall time of TV pink ladies advertisement was 61 second. According to Poole & Brown (2014) longer advertisement enables to engage more with the viewer, to develop a story, and to create emotional association with the brand, while short advertisement are efficient for communicating simple messages. In contrast to 15 and 30 seconds ads, a 60-second ad is recognized to be long advertisement. Thus, HSBC has chosen the right timing for its ad and achieved its communication objective to appeal to emotions of potential consumers by telling them an engaging story (Poole & Brown, 2014). TV as a broadcast tool is recognized to be one of most popular and definitely one of the most expensive media channels. Despite the emergence of social media, TV popularity is still high, whereas the broadcast viewing level is kept on the level of four hours a day (Regan, 2015). However, despite the stability of in-home viewing of linear TV, with the emergence of alternative ways of TV content review viewers habits have changed substantially (Regan, 2015). Younger generation of consumers are increasingly switching to viewing content on tablets and smartphones, deciding when and what to watch (Regan, 2015).According to Nielsen report, more than 40% of mobile users report daily use of a second screen device while watching TV (Katz, 2014). It means that viewers are engage in a wide range of other activities, such as email, shopping, social media, or search for ad-related information (Katz, 2014). This practice has become known as “Two-Screen TV viewing” and is recognized to be a great opportunity for advertisers (Katz, 2014). Two-Screen advertising helps advertisers to reach consumers as they switch from the big screen and small screen and to offer them online content for review for TV watching. HSBC has recognized this tendency and supplemented its TV ads campaign by launching advertisement through social media channels. Thus, the company has managed to increase its chances to reach its target audience and to engage them more in search of ad-related content in Internet. Cinema advertising Cinema advertising has proved to be another effective broadcast media tool for promotional/advertising activities. HSBC has launched its advertising on Christmas thus causing positive associations with the brand. The positive experience of going to the movies was more likely to contribute even more to it (Val Morgan Cinema Network, 2011). Cinema is recognized to be an effective instrument which helps to boost TV campaign (Millward Brown Knowledge Point, 2009). According to the report published by WARC organization, people impacted by cinema and TV advertising compared to those influences only by TV have demonstrated: higher brand liking, higher brand image recognition; more favourable response to the brand’s advertising; and what is most importantly, a three-fold uplift in propensity to buy the brand (Val Morgan Cinema Network, 2011). Another vague argument for effectively selected media channel by HSBC relates to the fact that cinema is a popular entertainment activity for youth. Therefore, cinema offers a great opportunity for the brands to reach a younger audience across the globe (Millward Brown Knowledge Point, 2009). As HSBC was primarily focused on targeting young adults, it is possible to assume that the company has reached its target audience via cinema media channel. Taking into consideration all of the above mentioned arguments it is possible to state that HSBC has effectively chosen cinema as one of the media tools for promoting its “Pink Ladies” campaign. Social media: YouTube channel HSBC has created its corporate channel on YouTube, where its advertisement of the “Pink Ladies” campaign can be easily found. Corporate channels on YouTube were initially designed in order to help viewers to find relevant content more easily (Warc.com, 2013). Thus, “YouTube channelification” is an important element which helps users to navigate through the video platform. Moreover, YouTube is recognized to be one of the most popular social media platforms which provides access to consumers of different age, geography, demographics, income, etc. (Spalding & Ong, 2010). YouTube is a perfect tool for marketers and advertisers as it enables them to reach hundreds of millions of consumers every day and advertise their product/service/brand in most efficient and cost-effective way (Spalding & Ong, 2010). Taking into consideration the fact that YouTube is one of the social media that is on the top list of brands favoured by British youth of age between 18-24 years old, it is possible to claim that HSBC’s presence on YouTube is a strategically right decision (Warc.com, 2013). With the increased access to its target audience of young adults, HSBC increased its chances to raise awareness about its banking products offered to this segment. Thus, HSBC has integrated this social media channel with its TV advertising, and thus has increased the coverage of its campaign. Recent study carried out by Pynta et al. (2014) has shown that “Television and social media interaction can be highly complementary in terms of building engagement over the short and long term during a program”. Based on this conclusion, it is possible to state that HSBC has successfully integrated traditional marketing tools with online marketing tools. This integrating marketing approach has enabled the company to communicate its message to both young ambitious people and their parents via their preferred channels (TV for parents, social media – for youngsters) and to increase overall effectiveness of the campaign (Mitskavets, 2014). New media In addition to utilizing traditional marketing tools and common social media platforms, HSBC has added some creativity to the way of promoting its advertisement. The company has launched a website www.together.hsbcadvance.com, which featured four different stories of young ambitious entrepreneurs, supported by their families and friends (Spary, 2014; Adler, 2015). The company encourages individuals to share their story with others and thus aims to utilize a new way to enhance consumer engagement and increase awareness about its products and brands (Spotts, Purvis, & Patnaik, 2014). Thus, HSBC has managed to create “deep” penetration to the users’ minds. Also it is important to mention that by sharing personal experience with others individuals help to build trust and loyalty towards a specific brand. This campaign has enabled the company to increase word-of-mouth effect, which “creates three times more impact with each person it reaches than does TV advertising” (Hiwaizi & White, 2015). While evaluating the suitability of the tools used by HSBC for its “Pink Ladies” campaign it is possible to refer to Figure 1, which indicates the depth and reach of different media and touch points. Figure 1: Depth and reach of different media and touchpoints (Source: Hiwaizi & White, 2015) As it has been discussed the company has utilized TV, Online video channel (YouTube), Cinema and Word of mouth (via its website www.together.hsbcadvance.com), which have enabled the company not only to focus on reach but also on depth of the media channels (Hiwaizi & White, 2015). Combination of highly creative TV advertisement with digital amplification has helped the company to reach its primary category of target audiences and to achieve its marketing objectives (Warc.com, 2014). In order to maximize the effect of advertising, HSBC has developed a creative story that worked effectively across different platforms and content that was optimized to work both along and together (Elms & Brown, 2015). 7. Recommendations for possible improvement in marketing communications activity HSBC marketing communications activity was definitely carefully planned and effectively implemented. The marketers have chosen four major media tools in order to roll out its “Pink Ladies” campaign. While the company has used social media in its campaign, such social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter could be utilized more in order to encourage brand communication and increase user’s engagement. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites which offer great opportunities for advertisers and marketers. Also, HSBC could develop some app for mobile phone users who mainly interact via their smartphones, as mobile technology is recognized to be a very attractive marketing tool (Karaatli, Ma and Suntornpithug, 2010). References: Adler, T. (2015). HSBC Advance adds social media hub to further its ‘thank you’ campaign. Available at: http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/01/09/hsbc-advance-adds-social-media-hub-to-further-its-thank-you-campaign/ Elms, S. & Brown, M (2015). How to create effective multiscreen ad campaigns. Millward Brown Knowledge Point. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=915df06f-94d4-4b17-ac58-22ce0015e482&q=objectives+of+campaign&CID=A103662&PUB=MBKNOWLEDGE Hiwaizi, O. & White, D.(2015). Creating engagement: Depth over reach. Admap: January 2015. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=14ddeecf-aff4-4544-924c-81071ebc41a1&q=engagement+social+media&CID=A103564&PUB=ADMAP HSBC website. About HSBC. Available at: http://www.hsbc.com/about-hsbc Karaatli, G., Ma, J., and Suntornpithug, N. (2010). Investigating Mobile Services Impact on Consumer Shopping Experience and Consumer Decision-Making. International Journal of Mobile Marketing: Vol. 5, No. 2. Katz, H. (2014). TV planning: The two-screen experience. Starcom Mediavest Group. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=bbb34560-b36e-4ad6-b7d4-cea509b887ba&q=TV+ad&CID=A100970&PUB=ADMAP Mitskavets, I. (2014). HSBC encourages students to Find Your Future Self with a new social media campaign. Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/711895/?highlight Millward Brown Knowledge Point (2009). What does cinema advertising add to a campaign? Knowledge Points. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=b6717193-d3fc-4f0d-8bc7-eacaac04297c&q=cinema+advertising&CID=A89697&PUB=MBKNOWLEDGE MRS Awards (2013). Putting the fizz Into finance: Why HSBC embraced a new emotional advertising model for a new global positioning. Finalist. Dec. 2013.Available at: www.warc.com Poole, D. & Brown, M. (2014). TV strategy: The optimal TV ad length. Admap, Dec. 2014. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=15a838bd-1898-4561-bbdf-43d7aa8491fb&q=TV+ad&CID=A103325&PUB=ADMAP Pynta, P., Seixas, S., Niels, G., Hier, J., Millward E., and Silberstein, R. (2014). The Power of Social Television: Can Social Media Build Viewer Engagement? A New Approach to Brain Imaging of Viewer Immersion. Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 54, 1. Regan, T. (2015). Media Planning Toolkit: Planning TV. Brand Performance. Warc Best Practice: January 2015. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=62743da1-5d3d-413b-910f-72a13bbc2a29&q=TV+ad&CID=A103566&PUB=BESTPRAC Spary, S. (2014). HSBC rolls out pink ladies TV ad for launch of Advance bank account. Marketing Magazine. Available at http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1327616/hsbc-rolls-pink-ladies-tv-ad-launch-advance-bank-account Spalding, L.,& Ong, J.(2010). Harnessing YouTube to drive brand interaction. ARF Experiential Learning: Re:Think conference. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=d7dd637e-3ec5-4f7e-8e44-c469f7ec8bf5&q=YouTube&CID=A97459&PUB=ARF-KIF Spotts, H., Purvis, S., & Patnaik, S. (2014). How Digital Conversations Reinforce Super Bowl Advertising: The Power of Earned Media Drives Television Engagement. Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 54, No.4. Val Morgan Cinema Network, (2011). Cinema advertising proven to increase propensity to buy. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=1fc453e6-ad4b-406e-a85d-fd517a28de6d&q=cinema+advertising&CID=A95686&PUB=WARC-RESEARCH Warc.com (2013). YouTube channels help advertisers. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/News/N32004_YouTube_channels_help_advertisers_.content?PUB=Warc%20News&CID=N32004&ID=59b72201-000b-430d-9dc7-31e9e3bd8163&q=YouTube&qr= Warc.com (2013). YouTube is top youth brand. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/News/N32060_YouTube_is_top_youth_brand.content?PUB=Warc%20News&CID=N32060&ID=bba2f0af-3135-49db-8795-41dc19140430&q=YouTube&qr= Warc.com (2014). Consumers in 2015: Millennials take centre-stage.Why Millennial consumers are becoming a marketers chief concern. Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/CardStackViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=41480890-4a2b-4177-aa88-5ab81d0cfab8&q=how+to+reach+young+consumers&CID=A103422&PUB=WARC-TRENDS YouTube.com (2015). HSBC Hong Kong. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/HSBCinhk Read More