Interview: How Hang Seng Bank puts consumers front and centre with homegrown brand positioning

Hang Seng Bank’s recent “Ever Growing, Ever Innovating” campaign has reminded HongKongers of how capable they can be when it comes to adapting to changes, through highlighting eight individuals including local director Sunny Chan and Olympic medalists that showcase the versatile demographic of people serviced by the bank. It also aims to reaffirm the bank’s customer-centric vision that will continue to play an essential role in the journey of people from all walks of life.

In an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Jordan Cheung (pictured), chief marketing officer of Hang Seng Bank said the idea behind the campaign was based on celebrating the momentous milestone of the bank’s 90th anniversary, as well as Hong Kong finally opening up to the world again – meaning a restart for many HongKongers. As such, the bank wanted to present a new image to the public with four new brand values including growth, customer-centricity, sustainability and innovation. 

“Instead of telling the public our brand values, we want to reflect the message through eight storytellers who share the same vision with Hang Seng Bank. Success is not just about how much they earn, the ways they contribute to the world through their own businesses are way more important,” Cheung said.

Engaging with younger audience 

Unlike its previous campaigns, Cheung said that the 90th anniversary campaign is much more dimensional and more engaging to younger customers and internal staff as it has collaborated with six local illustrators to create limited edition “Me and My Favourite Place” themed phone cases as part of the campaign. 

Infusing Hang Seng Bank's characteristics into some of the Hong Kong iconic elements, a total of 33 designs are available. Apart from 700 free phone cases for lucky draw winners, Cheung said that 9,000 phone cases will be distributed to the bank’s employees for free, as an internal engagement strategy as well as a new influencing marketing stunt by turning all Hang Seng employees into the face of the brand. 

“When we are launching a brand campaign, the first step is to let internal staff endorse more on it. Moreover, after our colleagues receive the phone cases, they will be delighted and use them and show them to their friends. People who see the cases may also ask about it. Our colleagues will then explain Hang Seng Bank’s brand values to them. This is also an effective way to promote our brand campaign over the traditional channels,” he added. 

In fact, Cheung said the bank’s effort to reach out to more GenZ consumers doesn’t come out of the blue. Back in January last year, the bank launched the first virtual KOL Hazel in the banking industry to further build connections with the young segment. 

“We conducted research and talked to young adult when we were developing Hazel’s personality of the character, so as to deepen our understanding of their preferences and attitudes to life. Hazel's personalities can represent young adult nowadays,” he added. 

As a local customer-centric bank 

Established in 1933, Hang Seng Bank has definitely earned its stripes by delivering quality banking and financial services to consumers. More importantly, positioning itself as a local customer-centric bank is also an important element to stand out from the crowd, said Cheung. 

“While not too many banks have such a strong Hong Kong’s unique heritage, Hang Seng Bank is the biggest local bank in Hong Kong and has grown up with HongKongers for 90 years. Therefore, we can tell the public confidently that we are one of the most distinctive local banks in Hong Kong.”

Speaking of what makes marketing great from a CMO’s point of view, Cheung said knowing how to motivate different colleagues to work and contribute is crucial in today’s marketing world. “I don’t exactly know every single piece of marketing knowledge, but my role is to motivate them to bring new insights and ideas...as well as having a customer centric mindset,” Cheung added. 

Echoing with the rebranding campaign, Cheung also noticed that there are some people who might be reluctant to embrace “changes”. However, he will continue to encourage his colleagues to participate in industry events and drive transformation.

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