PayMe by HSBC wins big at Marketing Excellence Awards HK 2023

PayMe by HSBC has emerged as the biggest winner at the 12th edition of Marketing Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2023 on 10 November and was crowned Marketer of the Year. 

Designed to recognise outstanding work in the region’s marketing industry, the awards saw industry professionals gather at JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong on 10 November to see if their companies would take home the top accolades. All entries were carefully evaluated by a high-profile panel of 32 professionals.

See the full list of winners here.

See the full jury here.

PayMe by HSBC took home nine awards and the coveted title of “Marketer of the Year”. The brand won four golds in Excellence in Customer Engagement, Excellence in Experiential Marketing, Excellence in Integrated Marketing, Excellence in Out-Of-Home Marketing; three silvers in Excellence in Customer Experience, Excellence in Innovation, Excellence in Interactive Marketing; two bronzes in Excellence in Advertising and Excellence in Gamification. 

The campaign that wowed the judges is The Biggest Laisee of All Campaign - PayMe by HSBC. While most Hongkongers already had their preferred e-wallet choices on their mobile phones, the brand rewrote the playbook on user acquisition despite facing bigger and more established market players. Its campaign helped boost user acquisition and maximise sales transactions with merchants during the Chinese New Year.

In partnership with Ogilvy Hong Kong, Mirum and PHD, the campaign combined the superpower of QR codes and festivities. While QR codes are powerful in attracting people with their ability to generate instant responses, PayMe by HSBC wanted to take the opportunity of Chinese New Year to demonstrate deep understanding and resonation for the traditions while introducing a novel take on the joyful festivities, enriching them with its technologies and uniting HongKongers with surprising experiences.

Don't miss: PayMe infuses AR into lucky laisee giveaway campaign

Turning strategy into experience innovation, PayMe by HSBC launched an immersive experience that everyone can grab a laisee. Within the campaign, It created the first meta temple in Hong Kong, hosting the “god of fortune” PayMeow and its peers. It also leveraged the biggest QR codes as the trigger to attract people and generate instant responses.

Moreover, PayMe leveraged its online-to-offline (O2O) strategy by spreading fortune to HongKongers via a virtual temple through offline interaction. 

In order to make the idea the talk of the town, PayMe by HSBC rolled out music videos featuring made musician PayMeow. It also amplified the campaign through KOL partnership and drove usage in the ever-growing ecosystem by partnering with brands such as McDonald’s, 7-Eleven and Wing On Travel. 

By reinventing Chinese New Year laisee and gamifying transactions, PayMe by HSBC has successfully pioneered a new path to user acquisition among the fierce competition. It recorded 9.4 times daily registration on Chinese New Year's Day. It also recorded over 57K on registration in one month, four times more than fintech/ virtual banking brands with high incentives. 

This year, the competition was incredibly tight with over 800 entries across 36 categories and a total of 109 trophies awarded to the leading brands and agencies across the regions at the ceremony.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE extends heartfelt congratulations to all the deserving finalists for their outstanding performance in the face of the challenges posed by the pandemic. We hope that this year's awards have inspired the industry to keep fighting the good fight as we head into 2024.

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