Justin Dickinson
Helps Make the Internet

Have you seen these HSBC ads?

As I ride the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan everyday I get a chance to look at a lot of ads. Having worked in advertising I tend to pay a little more attention and be more critical, as is anyone who’s once created what they’re viewing.

I’ve seen these HSBC ads around the city and thought they were clever. I’m a pretty sappy guy but I’m not likely to be emotionally moved by a bank poster. More so I wondered about the process of selecting the images and labels. Did they create a concept and then work toward it? Were there some that didn’t work or were deemed too risque? (I’m wondering why “pew” wasn’t used in the rug ad below, seems like a better option that would be shorter and create a deeper response.)

Then I started seeing these ads mentioned online in a lot of places. As I looked at them all together I started to realize they really did have some influential power behind them. I might not go so far as to say they stopped and made me think but they were more thoughtful and tasteful than yet another claim about how many ATM locations I can be enjoying.

I like the ones with one picture and different words better. It’s amazing how easy it is to associate each of these statements with the image. One after the other, despite contradiction, illicit empathy. I guess Jeff Winger was right.

These ads are primarily placed in airports so they’re meant to be viewed by people who have some time to read them, walk away, think, return and contemplate their meaning. This kind of placement helps in eliciting emotion—it’s easy to find meaning when you’re stuck for an hour layover than when you’re watching a 30 second TV ad or driving by a billboard.

I did some half-hearted Googling and couldn’t find what agency did these for HSBC. If you know, hit me up on Twitter as I’d like to check out their work and say congrats to them for creating a tasteful and thought provoking campaign.