The decision may give small comfort to Interpublic Group's Lowe & Partners, which had worked on HSBC since 1999 and created the brand platform HSBC wants to retain. IPG, Omnicom and Publicis had also pitched for HSBC.
The Lowe-created branding platform has served HSBC well - the bank recently reported a profit of £7.7 billion (US$13.6 billion), the highest-ever by a UK-based bank and 37 per cent up on last year. While the ads translated well into the various regions where HSBC operates, the platform also provided for local subsidiaries to select from a range of executions that were appropriate for their markets.
However, the need to integrate its marketing more effectively and maximise cost efficiencies as banking sector competition intensified prompted HSBC to look at consolidating its brief from 200 or so operators worldwide to a single company.
WPP's Team HSBC's newly-appointed regional director for Asia-Pacific, Stephen Li, paid tribute to Lowe's work. "Lowe has done some fantastic work for HSBC and our challenge now is to take that groundwork further."
Li said while WPP's central planning and resources were in place, the challenge would be to carry a single, concerted image for the bank and to make that locally relevant, with J. Walter Thompson leading the charge globally.
Team HSBC takes over a service portfolio which has been growing as global banking players expand into insurance and asset management services to stay competitive. HSBC's portfolio now includes credit card, consumer loans and mortgages, asset management and unit trusts, branding, insurance and retail and commercial banking.Added a source: "Six years ago, HSBC had (numerous) other names and was run as a federal structure. Over the last five years, it has put in a more coherent structure, building its brand, and has made public notice of this."
The bank successfully cast aside established brands including Midland Bank and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation for the HSBC moniker.
Li added that during the late '90s economic crisis, a time when most financial institutions and banks were focused on consistency and service, HSBC had realised that consumers were looking for personalisation and local understanding.
"The changing economic situation in Hong Kong and Asia and globalisation led to a change in the way (HSBC) looked at itself and the world. They grabbed the bull by the horns, were centre-focused, became more marketing savvy and realised that there was no such thing as one size fits all of selling marketing and financial products. They have taken positive steps over the last six years to try to get to the heart of the customer."
