HSBC's innovative campaign won gold in B2B at The Drum Awards for Marketing, challenging competitors by focusing on realistic expansion challenges in ASEAN, boosting revenue and engagement.
Context:
HSBC in ASEAN: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is one of the fastest-growing trade blocs in the world, with a 5.1% average GDP increase in 2024 (McKinsey, 2025). HSBC Commercial Banking, positioned around helping businesses expand and manage networks across borders, had set ambitious growth plans for the region. These plans focused on mid-market enterprises (MMEs), those with annual turnover USD 50-500 million, as 80% expressed interest in expanding internationally (HSBC, 2023). HSBC could deliver comprehensive support for MMEs through everything from financing capital investments and managing supply chains, to cross-border transactions and navigating unfamiliar business or regulatory environments. Unfortunately, only 25% of business leaders believed we could deliver cross-border support within ASEAN (HSBC, 2023).
Competitor Advantages: Regional competitors were highly active with MMEs. UOB, OCBC, and DBS were better positioned as experts in the region due to their heritage, market coverage, and Singapore headquarters. They enjoyed higher spontaneous awareness and 2-4X HSBC’s share of voice (media agency, 2024). Relationship managers (RMs) remained the most important source of influence when choosing a commercial bank, and regional competitors enjoyed an advantage here as well. Their frontline was confident in selling ASEAN capability, while 59% of HSBC RMs reported being unclear on the details of our offer (HSBC, 2023).
Audiences:
External: CEOs / CFOs in MMEs operating in one or more ASEAN markets. This group wanted to take advantage of an interconnected ASEAN bloc and were expecting average revenue growth of 10% (Asian Business Review, 2024). Many were still family-owned so took a hands-on approach to both big-picture planning and day-to-day operations, demanding the same from partners. They were aware of HSBC, but unsure about our specific capabilities in ASEAN, and therefore defaulted to local banks (HSBC, 2024).
Internal: Dedicated RMs are responsible for initiating the acquisition process and managing relationships. Appearing credible is extremely important, so they often focus on selling HSBC value propositions they can clearly explain. They believed our ASEAN offer was overly fragmented and lacking tangible benefits. As such, they were more likely to push other more familiar HSBC propositions.
Objectives:
We needed to show MME business leaders and our internal frontline that HSBC was a better option than well-known competitors, and set the following objectives:
The promise of a united ASEAN where trade flows across borders seamlessly was tended to be the narrative from institutions, economists, and industry media. Advocates pointed to growth, adoption of trade agreements (CPTPP and RCEP) and increasingly complex tensions outside the region. Competitors parroted this vision, as OCBC declared themselves “the bank for your aspirations in ASEAN”, while UOB tugged on regional pride as the “one bank for ASEAN”. Promises of “possibility”, “unity” and accelerated growth abounded, accompanied by heartwarming “ASEAN success stories”.
When we looked at realities in ASEAN, however, we saw a different story. There were complex cultural, business, and regulatory environments across markets. Scarce capital for innovation, supply chain disruptions, and friction in cross-border trade infrastructure made expansion slower, costlier, and less transparent. We concluded anyone who told MMEs it was going to be “free and clear” to expand within a “united” ASEAN was, frankly, full of it. More importantly, this narrative of ASEAN was counter to the experience of MMEs trying to expand in the region.
Because in reality, ASEAN was neither “free and clear” nor “united”:
Luckily, we had seen this all before. As the world’s largest international trade bank, HSBC has encountered every expansion challenge conceivable. So, rather than push the unrealistic expansion rhetoric or being experts in the region, we focused on being experts in international expansion. We reorganized our ASEAN offer, creating the “ASEAN Expansion Suite” of products aimed at immediate expansion challenges, and the “ASEAN Expansion Support” system highlighting the organizational qualities that underpin our longstanding expansion expertise (chart 1 in supporting file).
When the category chose to sell the optimistic dream of ASEAN expansion, we focused on selling how HSBC could help businesses with the reality.
Creative Idea:
It is notoriously difficult to breakthrough in B2B marketing, especially when introducing complex products and services to a broad regional audience. Competitors tried to be inspirational, or sentimental. While potentially engaging, it was preventing them from communicating 1) the challenges of expanding in ASEAN and 2) the tangible ways they could help overcome them. The reality was, the trade and regulatory infrastructure in ASEAN was still very complex and unclear. Trying to inspire business leaders to push forward within this environment seemed unfitting, so we forced them to stop and think instead.
When the category encouraged MMEs to “follow your spark”, we told them “Don’t expand in ASEAN”. Our “Don’t” idea was meant to serve as a blunt object - demanding attention, but also acting as a big stop sign for business leaders to examine what their current partners were telling them. When we had their attention, we introduced our ASEAN Expansion Suite and Support system messaging to frame HSBC as a more measured and experienced partner (chart 2 in supporting file).
Engagement Strategy:
We adapted messaging across a three-layer communications strategy: showcase, substantiate, sell: (chart 3 in supporting file)
We showed MME business leaders and our own frontline that HSBC was the better option when expanding in ASEAN – leading to the following results:
Increase revenue among MMEs within ASEAN
Evaluated based on: positive ROI
Increase key brand metrics among MMEs and RMs.
Evaluated based on: internal benchmarks and industry ranking.
Gain attention and increase engagement of MMEs and RMs.
Attention: breakthrough B2B competitive landscape and achieve positive trade media coverage
Evaluated based on: SoV and earned media value
Engagement: increase engagement of prospects and RMs.
Evaluated based on: measures vs pre-campaign and internal benchmarks.