A Marketing Spend When No Others Are: HBSC's "Different Values" Campaign Comes To New York

October 20, 2008:  Every advertisement in New York Magazine's October 27 edition, on news stands today, was purchased by HSBC, "The world's local bank."

This was the largest single ad purchase in New York Magazine's history, and the largest single print buy for HSBC's new "Different Values" campaign.

What makes this marketing investment so significant is that it occurs at a time when most of HSBC's direct competitor's are scaling back expenditures. Cutting marketing expenses has been rationalized as not only a cost-saving move, but also a response to the perception of that consumers are retrenching, not borrowing, and not making any new investment decisions.

Is this marketing spend an attempt to grab attention at a time when competitors are not prepared to match the effort?  Will the public respond?

HSBC, the largest European bank with operations in 83 countries around the world, is betting that Americans will respond. "Now more than ever before people are reappraising not just how they manage their money, but what's important to them," Tracy Britton, head of marketing for HSBC Bank, USA, N.A., said. "This campaign is very timely and appropriate."

"People's reaction to the campaign is a bit of a values Rorschach test. It encapsulates our global outlook that acknowledges and respects that people value things in very different ways." said Britton. "HSBC’s global footprint gives us the insight and the opportunity not only to be comfortable, but confident in helping people with different values achieve what’s really important to them."

The "Different Values" creative are part of a series of 17 ads (some single full page, some full page spreads) appearing throughout the issue, which delivers the message that "different values make the world a richer place."

In each "Different Values" ad, created by JWT, New York and London, a single image repeats three times, with a different one-word interpretation imposed over each photo. Initial ads were first seen in out-of-home and newspapers in early September.  New York is premiering ten new ads in the campaign.

The ten new ads carry the titles, "Shaved Head," "Baby," "Plastic Surgery," "Prescription Drugs," "Skyline," "Chocolate," "Car," "Niagara Falls," "Passport” and "Alaska." In one, the words "style," "soldier," and "survivor" overlay the photo of the back of a gender-neutral shaved head.

The campaign’s global "Different Values" mission statement will appear on the front inside cover spread and back cover of the issue. New York and HSBC are sponsoring a contest for nymag.com users, inviting them to create the next "Different Values" ad, which will appear in a future issue.

"New York magazine and nymag.com are vehicles for marketers who want to make a strong and immediate impact with an influential audience," says Larry Burstein, Publisher of New York Media. "People expect to see things first in New York, and that’s why HSBC chose to run this innovative campaign with us."

Buying most or all of the ads in a given media has become a popular tactic in recent years as marketers try to stand out in an increasingly cluttered field. Target bought all the ads in an issue of The New Yorker in 2005, and this year ABC bought out all the ads in a single issue of TV Guide.

The single, or dominating, sponsor approach is attractive to publishers at a time when magazine ad sales are falling. Consumer magazine ad pages fell 12.9 percent in the third quarter of 2008, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

"HSBC is choosing to make a strong statement when there's a lot of turmoil among its competitors," said Ellen Oppenheim, chief marketing officer for the Magazine Publishers of America recently. 

HSBC's show of strength in New York may be an attempt to shore up investor and consumer confidence at a time when it's own balance sheet needs help.  The Bank, for the first two quarters of 2008, reported a 29% decline in profit and its stock price fell nearly 30% over the last year to about $70 a share. 

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Posted by Mark Rodrigues at 11/5/2008 12:04 PM
Categories: Psychology,Management
 

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  • 11/13/2008 2:46 PM sharon blynn wrote:
    hi there . . .

    I just saw the “shaved head” ad for the first time today (a friend sent it to me, as i'm an ovarian cancer survivor and founder of bald is beautiful).

    though they say the head could be male or female, it definitely feels/looks like a female head (vs a very petite male). that being said . . .

    my initial feeling about the ad was "hey . . . that's cool" -- simply because i never see people like me in ads (it's all about long, flowing locks of hair as part of the essential what-makes-us-women-and-defines-our-beauty list). my disappointment (and what i'm working to change) is that in the ad, we are faceless, anonymous, and still in some way objectified or "hidden". i'd love to see smiling, confident, radiant bald gals with or without the cancer or military association in ads and on TV/in films, etc!

    as for "values" - i think their focus is on why a women would choose to NOT COVER her bald head. it's more obvious in the first two, and the third one represents the concept of a courageous woman who wears her bald head as a badge of courage as she fights for her life. even if that woman ultimately succumbs to cancer, it is a literal (and metaphorical) visual representation of her courage to stand tall and not hide in shame as many women do (those who may wear wigs to cover up, to make others feel better, to feel complete since society tells us in so many ways that we are NOT complete without hair, boobs, being size 0, etc etc).

    the other, more subtle mental response i had on first viewing is that there is not necessarily a difference (just in words) between soldier and survivor! they are both BOTH of those things!

    the campaign in the very least is igniting some stimulating discussion as hsbc takes a very timely toe-dipping into challenging people to examine and individually define and refine their values. ciao 4 now.

    peace.
    -sb
    www.baldisbeautiful.org
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