HSBC's objectives were two-fold. Firstly, they wanted to showcase their sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives in China and Hong Kong. Secondly, they aimed to raise awareness of these programs and the positive impact they are having. They wanted to demonstrate HSBC's commitment to sustainability and community upliftment, while also inspiring others to take similar actions. They wanted the campaign to reach a wide range of audiences, to spread awareness of their efforts.
When HSBC approached Morning Studio with a brief to raise awareness about their commitment to sustainability and community upliftment across Hong Kong and mainland China, our team knew that we had a unique opportunity to tell a powerful and impactful story. We were tasked with creating a video series that was both informative and watchable, all while ensuring that the HSBC brand was woven in seamlessly.
At Morning Studio, we understand the importance of authenticity and the potential negative impact that an overly branded campaign can have on brand perception. That's why we took an editorial and human-centric approach to the project, focusing on the real people who had been impacted by HSBC's efforts.
Through in-depth interviews, on-location filming, and documentary-style storytelling, we were able to bring the stories of these individuals to life in a way that was both engaging and emotionally resonant. Every video in the series ended with a message that highlighted the full impact of HSBC's CSR work, and in doing so, seamlessly linked back to the brand.
The production of the series was not without its challenges. The series was shot during the 4th to 5th wave of COVID-19, and our teams had to work through restrictions in both Hong Kong and mainland China. With some of the interviewees changing, the video storylines had to be quickly adapted, and the Morning Studio team rose to the challenge, delivering the series within the given deadline.
The response to the series has been overwhelmingly positive, with audiences praising the human-centric focus and the powerful stories that were told. Through our work, HSBC has been able to showcase the impact of their CSR efforts and reinforce their commitment to sustainability and community upliftment.
We are proud to have played a part in telling this important story and to have helped HSBC connect with their audiences in a meaningful and impactful way. We believe that this project serves as a testament to the power of a human-centric approach and the impact that it can have on a brand's perception and reputation.
The series was launched as a set of articles in SCMP, which helped provide context for each video. The series was housed its own content hub with a unique URL, to aid SEO and discoverability. We additionally distributed the campaign through LREC banners and native ad units that rested on the SCMP homepage to drive traffic back to the content. In parallel, we launched a social media campaign across Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube to get traction for the videos. The results were outstanding:
• Through the 2 month campaign period, the videos gained 1.36 million views across social media channels, with 252,000 reactions, shares and comments.
• The social posts across Facebook, Linkedin and Youtube collectively reached 8 million users and delivered over 14 million impressions
• The article series saw 316,000+ page views and reached 175,000 unique readers on SCMP
• Audiences were highly engaged with the articles and spent an average of 2 minutes 52 seconds on each article page, reading the content and watching the embedded video
• All banner ads collectively served 2.7 million impressions, ensuring that the HSBC campaign had high visibility across the SCMP website
