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DEBATE: Is HSBC’s ‘we are not an island’ advert an effective strategy?

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Is HSBC’s ‘we are not an island’ advert an effective strategy?

Brendon Craigie, co-founder and managing partner at Tyto PR, says YES.

HSBC has denied that its adverts are explicitly Brexit-related, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the campaign’s underlying message. Given the social media response, this denial is probably intended to highlight that, regardless of its political stance, it doesn’t make one shred of difference to the bank’s product offering.

Frankly, this campaign was a roaring success. Not only does it resonate with HSBC’s famous slogan – “the world’s local bank” – but it also does a fantastic job at cutting through all the media noise around Brexit by being outspoken and evocative.

Is it to everyone’s liking? Probably not. Was it effective? Undoubtedly. It was covered by just about every UK national news outlet and stoked the fires of the Twittersphere, driving the conversation.

If anything, failing to make the emotional case for remaining in the EU was the Remain campaign’s biggest problem in the run-up to the referendum. HSBC has definitely got people thinking with their hearts rather than just their heads.

Lucy Harris, director of Leavers of Britain, says NO.

Quite apart from being geographically inaccurate, HSBC’s “we are not an island” advert fundamentally looks like an attempt to maintain old customers through fear, rather than win new ones through aspiration.

The advert risks isolating not just those local business owners who voted to get out of the EU and into the world, but anyone with the enthusiasm to make Brexit work.

Shouldn’t marketers consider the possibilities of promoting what can be highly positive changes for local communities and global-looking people alike, rather than lazily cementing a negative narrative of a political upheaval? What could be more outward-looking than freeing ourselves from a bloc that is in economic decline, that British businesses do increasingly less trade with, while opening ourselves up to the whole planet?

If HSBC is truly a global bank, it should be championing Brexit plans for more business outside of Europe, rather than pandering to people’s fear of change.