1. HSBC Helps You Unlock The World’s Potential

2. Created and produced by Mindshare Invention
February 2010
For further information contact:
George Michaelides: +44 (0)20 7969 3470
or email george.michaelides@mindshareworld.com
Caspar Schlickum: +44 (0)20 7969 4665
or email caspar.schlickum@mindshareworld.com

3. HSBC Helps You Unlock the World’s
Potential
‘Talkability’ is the most powerful HSBC has 310,000 employees, 3 million corporate
customers and 100 million personal customers.
medium on the planet They are Global Citizens of a networked world,
where each one knows and stays in touch with
more people than ever – via email, mobile phone
and social networks, as well as face-to-face – a
conservative estimate is around 250 people. That
means each Global Citizen is separated by only 2
degrees from 62,500 people. And everywhere in the
world, people believe other people more than media.
It’s why ‘talkability’ is the most powerful medium
on the planet. And it’s why employees and existing
customers are potentially HSBC’s most valuable
medium.
Ideas you love to share® create Ideas You Love To Share® are engaging ideas that
people discover and want to share with others.
talkability They are rich ideas, not reductive ones. They are
useful and entertaining. They succeed because they
connect the key brand dynamic (here, HSBC Helps
You Unlock the World’s Potential) to something
bigger in peoples’ lives: a cultural dynamic that
people are already engaging with.
There are 3 major cultural dynamics that offer
opportunities to connect with Global Citizens.

5. Crowdsourcing
Mass collaboration generates Mass collaboration applied to ‘problem solving’,
has taken on a different dimension with web 2.0,
spectacular solutions where tasks can be outsourced to a group (crowd) of
people or community in the form of an open call.
Netflix created a $1m prize for software to improve
their ability to predict movies their customers would
like. The competition attracted a broad and diverse
range of people, all of whom formed their own
groups, which eventually led to improved software
and saved Netflix over $300m dollars of man hours.

7. Wisdom of the crowd
Collective wisdom of the crowd The collective wisdom of the crowd often produces
better outcomes than individual decisions or
produces the best outcomes actions – a trend that’s exploded with the ease of
information sharing via the web and mobile.
This wisdom was pioneered by Amazon’s
‘recommendation engine’ whereby an aggregation
of previous customer purchases is used to
recommend additional purchases to each shopper.
It was estimated that, in 2006, as much as 35%
of Amazon’s entire sales revenue was due to their
recommendation system; this equates to $3.75
billion of additional revenue.

8. ‘i want to trade
my red paper
clip for a house’

9. Social networking
Social networks have extraordinary Social networking is currently the zeitgeist of
internet life, with over 1 billion regular participants.
capacity for unlocking value Social networks have an extraordinary – and
perhaps unprecedented – capacity for unlocking
and creating value for their participants. We are
only beginning to understand the possibilities of
this revolutionary idea, but some enterprising early
adopters are already exploiting its potential for
wealth creation.
On July 14th 2005, Canadian blogger Kyle
MacDonald asked his online social network if they
would trade him something a little bigger and
better for the single red paperclip he had on his
desk; he was hoping to trade that paperclip all the
way up into a house. Fourteen trades and one year
later, he was the proud owner of a two-bedroom
farmhouse in Saskatchewan; this he achieved
without spending a penny, entirely based on his
extended network of friends of friends, their friends
and so on.

10. Ideas You Love To Share® that The five ideas that follow are simple in concept and
ambitious in scale. They put people at their heart,
bring to life ‘HSBC Helps You with HSBC the initiator and guiding angel.
Unlock the World’s Potential’
They are a start point.
We may merge some to create a stronger idea or
some may simply act as a springboard to a brighter
new idea. They all need nurturing (like a kitten).

12. The Insiders
An emotionally engaging How can we dramatise the breadth and richness
of the knowledge and insights we impart to our
demonstration of how HSBC customers every day? What if we lifted the lid on
experts share their wisdom how our unique insights into emerging markets
create value for our customers?
An illustration of how this might work would be in
the form of a TV series: Four self-made millionaire
entrepreneurs from different countries around the
world are challenged to work outside their domestic
comfort zone and away from their specialist
industry sector. HSBC’s emerging market experts –
The Insiders – are their only guide to confusing and
complex challenges.
The entrepreneurs will compete with one another
to see who can create the most prosperity – who
can make the biggest difference to the profits and
efficiency of a business in another country in just
three months?
At the beginning of the series, the HSBC experts
present the entrepreneurs with a background on
4 fast-growing sectors in an emerging-market
country. The entrepreneurs must choose which
business they believes has the most potential.
We then follow the trials and tribulations of the
entrepreneurs as they get to grips with their project,
the local people and their customs.
In each episode, our HSBC experts act as a sounding
board for their ideas, keep track of their finances
and summarise business results.

13. The Insiders will test every ounce of our WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS IDEA
entrepreneurs’ skill, courage and self-reliance, while It is a continually newsworthy event and pioneering
HSBC provides them with the cool assurance, local way to demonstrate both our new positioning and
insight and financial skill that Helps Them Unlock give the world a platform to connect to each other,
Their Potential. to unlock each other’s potential.
WHAT THIS IDEA DOES FOR HSBCS BUSINESS
Gives relationship managers a direct engagement
with customers seeking to make changes in their
business (e.g. move overseas, launch new products
or expand).Provides digital content which plays a
key role in customer acquisition journey for Premier
and Advance. Creates loyalty, increases the number
of products customers buy from us and gives HSBC
a point of difference by offering exclusive access to
the Big Pitch for existing customers.

16. The Big Pitch
Because big ideas deserve the At certain times, we will need to re-invigorate the
momentum of the brand strategy with a bang that
biggest stage is heard around the world. A statement of intent
that cannot be missed or ignored, that reflects the
stature and scale of HSBC, and emphasizes all that
is special and unique to the World’s Local Bank. A
spectacle that proves that HSBC Helps You Unlock
the World’s Potential, that demonstrates that we
are actively using our knowledge to bind people
together, and shows the world how we inspire them
to create prosperity.
Imagine that, overnight, giant video screens appear
at street level in prominent public spaces – some
of them right outside HSBC’s headquarter offices
– in 20 of the World’s major cities; they are an
interlinked network of webcams giving a giant
window into the lives of people around the world:
Londoners can watch Warsaw, Sao Paolo peeps into
New York, Istanbul sees Shanghai…
It’s the world’s first ever live interactive global TV
channel.
With this 24/7 interactive broadcasting, there’s
ample opportunity for all facets of HSBC’s business
to showcase their skills and offerings. Some
examples of ways that HSBC propositions can
dramatise their offering might be:

17. Advance: world-renowned psychologist, Dr. Richard WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS IDEA
Wiseman, heads up a global team of scientists to It is a continually newsworthy event and pioneering
conduct a research experiment into who people way to demonstrate both our new positioning and
want to be tomorrow. He and his team then give the world a platform to connect to each other,
present the world’s results and co-host, with an to unlock each other’s potential.
HSBC advisor, a Q&A giving practical tips on how to
become who you want to be tomorrow. WHAT THIS IDEA DOES FOR HSBCS BUSINESS
Gives relationship managers a direct engagement
Premier: a selection of the world’s most visionary with customers seeking to make changes in their
thinkers – via a partnership with the TED project – business (e.g. move overseas, launch new products
give stimulating and fascinating talks on all aspects or expand).Provides digital content which plays a
of money, banking, business and global culture. key role in customer acquisition journey for Premier
Perhaps premier banking customers also receive and Advance. Creates loyalty, increases the number
exclusive access to a Q&A with the speakers... of products customers buy from us and gives HSBC
a point of difference by offering exclusive access to
Business Banking: brilliant local entrepreneurs pitch the Big Pitch for existing customers.
their products and ideas to a combination of angel
investors and HSBC experts to see if – and how –
their businesses could expand overseas.
When we’re not using the screens, the public has
‘free time’ on them. Friends meet and chat over
coffee, sweethearts and families are virtually
reunited, musicians form ad hoc global bands for a
jamming session and thousands of things we can’t
even imagine.
A supporting web portal simulcasts all 20 screens
and all events happening on them with full
interactivity using twitter, voting mechanisms, chat
boards and so on.
As it progresses, the project will create a huge
bank of content to use going forward to continue
engaging our audience. Edited programmes could
be used on in-flight TV, distributed via iTunes, Hulu,
TED.com and as vodcasts on HSBC.com.

20. The HSBC Champions Network
HSBC creates pen pals for business How can we turn our 100 million account holders
from mere transactional customers to members:
invested in the success of their bank?
Members have to be invited to become part of
an organisation, and to perform a small favour in
exchange for their elevated status. Our members
ought to contribute to the world in the same way
that HSBC does – we will unlock their potential
and they will go on to unlock others’ potential. By
downloading a Facebook (or Orkut etc.) app and
filling in a short questionnaire, they can volunteer
to become HSBC Champions, using Facebook’s chat
feature to pass on their experience and wisdom
around the world. It will be a vast cross-cultural
exchange of knowledge, from old to young, from
North to South, from business advice to cultural
guidance.
Followers will have multiple Champions, Champions
will have multiple followers; their interactions will
be published to their status feeds. Champions gain
cachet from their number of followers, the positive
ratings they accrue and the opportunity to publicise
their academic papers, conferences speeches etc..
Champion groups will form a virtual ‘brains trust’,
uniting around followers’ shared interests.

21. Each week, the top-rated Champion’s Top Ten best WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS IDEA
nuggets of advice are printed in a regular column Social Networks possess extraordinary potential
in the Financial Times, with an annual summary for our business and our ambition to unlock the
collected into a book, which is sent to selected HSBC world’s potential: HSBC needs to be active in this
customers and prospects. Relevant financial advice space. This is an opportunity for us to not only
they give can be made into in-store signage and be participate, but to pioneer and lead, in ways that
featured in DM packs, on customer bills and other create prosperity for our customers.
HSBC corporate materials.
WHAT THIS IDEA DOES FOR HSBCS BUSINESS
Provides an opportunity for us to directly engage
staff (especially Relationship Managers) with
customers, creating a community that is of value
to existing stakeholders and of interest to those who
are not.

24. The HSBC Energy Standard
A unique commitment to energy- We believe that HSBC should be acknowledged
as a world leader in sustainability. Not only can
saving that everyone will want we continue to lead the financial world with our
contribute to pioneering environmental commitment, but we
can also create a measurement of our progress
that is both simple to implement and simple
to understand. A measurement that creates a
continually newsworthy story, demonstrating
our green credentials to everyone from corporate
investment clients to current account holders.
The Institute of Mechanical Engineering has created
a revolutionary energy meter that measures every
single unit of power used in a single office, whole
office building or global office network, and collates
those units into a single energy efficiency number.
We propose that each HSBC office is fitted with one
of these inexpensive devices as part of a global
competition to encourage our employees to save
as much energy as possible. Imagine how much
more assiduous our staff will be about turning off
unnecessary light switches, powering down PCs or
even filling the kettle when they can see its effect
on their office’s energy rating.
And there’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition
to motivate people, so we propose that each office’s
energy rating be displayed on the planet HSBC
intranet, internal monthly reports, displayed in
receptions, on the web site and perhaps even in
branches.

25. A glamorous annual award ceremony celebrates WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS IDEA
each country’s most improved office, the world’s This makes every single member of every HSBC
biggest energy saving country and the person who office live and breathe energy efficiency.
has been voted the most inspiring energy saver.
WHAT THIS IDEA DOES FOR HSBCS BUSINESS
This gives each office and country a dynamic PR Dramatises HSBCs commitment to sustainability.
story to tell, and HSBC as a whole a simple, inspiring Provides tangible and salient reason to choose HSBC
number to display on company reports, press for the 79% of global consumers who say they
releases, letterhead and so on. prefer to buy from environmentally responsible
companies (Source: Havas).
Obviously, there is an opportunity for this scheme
to be expanded beyond our borders once its success
is widely known: we encourage our major corporate
clients to join the HSBC Energy Standard.

28. The HSBC Alternative Nobels
Local solutions to global problems What if the Nobel prizes were invented today, and
not in 1901?
They would be web-based, open and democratic,
selected and voted on by the people of the world;
not an exclusive invitation decided in smoky
anterooms by a secretive Swedish cabal.
They would recognise real, tangible achievements
that lead to prosperity, in areas such as
communications, transportation and technology;
not esoteric, abstract notions of subatomic particles
or theoretical economics.
They would shine the global spotlight on local
heroes, who are solving local problems with local
ingenuity.
Heroes creating solutions which can be adopted
to benefit other, similar communities around the
world. Heroes like William Kamkwamba, the 14
year-old Malawian who was forced to quit school
because his family could no longer afford the fees,
but transformed his village by building electric
windmills out of junk after reading a book about
turbines in his local library. His invention means
that his village now has clean running water and
electric lighting.

29. Potential prize winners would be nominated by WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS IDEA
HSBC branch offices, with a shortlist decided upon The idea dramatizes HSBC‘s positioning for Private
by a central HSBC committee. and Corporate banking: “always uncovering the next
possibility”, “opportunities emerge from the right
This would be a year-round interactive process, global connections” and of course Helps You Unlock
constantly debated online, with passionate the World’s Potential.
Facebook fans and campaigning celebrities, with
a TV series of documentaries throughout the year WHAT THIS IDEA DOES FOR HSBCS BUSINESS
telling the stories of our nominees, building support Positions the bank as the global leader among
for them and their ideas, culminating in a globally socially responsible companies: a BrandWeek
televised award ceremony... study found that 57% of consumers said they
feel more loyal to companies that are socially
responsible; 52% said they were more likely to talk
to their friends and families about such mindful
corporations. Meanwhile, 38% said they would
be willing to pay extra for products produced by
socially responsible companies.

31. Ideas You Love To Share ®