A specific kind of madness descends on Hong Kong every April. Bankers in sumo suits, lawyers in tutus, thousands of people in Causeway Bay who somehow know every word to Mr Brightside. The Sevens is the one weekend the city drops its poker face entirely, and this year HSBC and 160over90 have made their most convincing attempt yet to turn that into a campaign.
'Let's SVNS this city', a vibrant and hummable campaign does exactly what it says. The Aqualuna, that red-sailed junk that every tourist photographs from the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, is fitted with plastic Viking horns. The film stars Max Woodward, Salom Yiu, James Christie and Christy Cheng, plus Bryan Habana, all dolled up as superfans. The soundtrack was rebuilt from scratch with sound studio Syn in full Cantopop mode.
Andrea de Vincentiis, global head of brand partnerships & regional head of brand, HSBC, says: “For over 160 years we’ve been proud to call Hong Kong home. Supporting the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong SVNS is a chance to show our commitment to the city and community that makes the tournament so great. This campaign celebrates all the people of Hong Kong, encouraging everyone to come together like they always do, as the tournament celebrates its 50th anniversary.”
"It's not every day you get to partner with a brand like HSBC to kick off Hong Kong's biggest sporting event (and party). So we grabbed the opportunity by the fake Viking horns, going big and dressing up the iconic Hong Kong skyline and locally famous Aqualuna. After finding the perfect stadium anthem, we were lucky enough to work with sound studio Syn to reimagine the track in authentic Cantopop detail — Simmons toms, white noise, whip cracks and all," said Nicholas Sellars and Katie Moore, the Australian creative duo behind the work, running 160over90's APAC output from Hong Kong after stints at Ogilvy, BMF, Host Havas and 303MullenLowe.
HSBC and Hong Kong are so synonymous with Sevens that the partnership risks being taken for granted. So instead of harping about the prestige of the tournament, the brief was to lean into the absurdity and the warmth of the sporting carnival and amplify that energy.
The teasers rolled out from April 6, with the full hero film breaking ahead of this weekend's tournament (April 17-19) on DOOH, socials and in Kai Tak stadium.
CREDITS
Client: HSBC
Brand Partnerships Marketing Manager, HSBC: Adam Webb
Global Head of Brand Partnerships & Regional Head of Brand, HSBC: Andrea de Vincentiis
Agency: 160over90
SVP Asia Pacific: Gavin Hadley
Director, Partnerships: Seb Page
Account Director, Partnerships: Harry Thorp
Senior Account Manager: Ella Dean
Account Manager, Partnerships: Zephy Chung
VP, Strategy: Domina Ball
Senior Strategist: Kaylis Cheng
Creative Director, APAC: Katie Moore
Creative Director, APAC: Nicholas Sellars
Senior Creatives: Paddy O’Mahoney, Rattiya Suphatanasilpa, Henry Kember, Tim Green
Design: Koen Arbouw, Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon
Executive Producer: Honae MacNeill
Production Company: Austin Studio
Executive Producer: Celia Nicholas
Director: Tim Green
DOP: Grégoire Lière
Photographer: Owen Yu
Facilitation Company: Spur Link
Executive Producer: Pat Lui
Edit: The Editors/ Tim Mauger
Music Supervision: Trailer Media
Audio: Syn
Colourist: Yanni Kronenberg
VFX: White Chocolate
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific
