Then I remembered it was an ad. And I threw up.

Maybe this ad is more effective/emotional to those of who live in places like British Columbia, where I can recall issues surrounding logging and protests being discussed all the way back to my early childhood.

Either way, it’s beautiful. I just cut it a few seconds earlier.

I felt the same way when I saw the 90 second ad a month back. Very well shot, poignant storytelling without the use of dialogue, and then… HSBC?

Maybe a good way to up HSBC brand recognition with the bloggies, but aside from that, the message is fuzzy at best.

They know people view stories through their own lens, and hope that when we watch we’ll “see” them mirroring back our own values. If that’s the case, they’re trying to tell me that they’re a fan of environmental protection (while also maintaining respect for local economic activities).

In this interpretation, they’re actually abdicating all values, while trying to appeal to the values of potential customers. One of those interpretations is a sustainable one. If this is their game, it’s greenwash, because by the very nature of this scenario, the other values they’re transmitting (law and order, local economics trump the environment) are opposing values.

-Joellen (Marketplace)

I still don’t know what the fudge any of this has to do with banking though.

As John Swansburg said in closing, the bank is simply trying to say that it appreciates different people have different ideas, and the bank respects their different viewpoints.

And frankly, this is a lesson we all could learn. Particularly now, when the left and the right are battling it out so fiercely in America. I don’t doubt for a second that both sides think they are doing what’s best to save their country.

What we have to remember in such fierce debates is that we are not battling people. This is not war, it is not personal. Both sides are battling the other side’s IDEAS.

So at the end of the day, if both logger guy and protester girl can respect eachother’s rights to make up their own minds about IDEAS, then they can still love eachother as people.

Take note, everyone.

cinematic scope
+ hint of irony
+ warm and fuzzy
= our message!

I can imagine just about anything dropping its logo at the end. You earned your 6 figures, mad men.

On the other hand the ad doesn’t work because it is confusing and doesn’t really have any resonable connection with the brand in question. As some have allready pointed out, this could be Diesel or Coke or allmost anything.

Whether the protesting girl and Henry the logger are related by blood or just dating it is clear that they share both a past and a future togeather.
Even though they evidently have nothing in common in terms of values or priorities.

Both of them will most probably keep destroying whatever the other one holds dear until one of them eventually dies.
Quite horrific, really.

Maybe that’s what HSBC really wants to tell us: that there are no perfect relationships, or even decent relationships; your best hope is to partner up with someone that doesn’t compleatly repulse you.

We are a bank. We’re not one of the worst ones so you might as well save yourself the trouble of looking any further. Plus we make cute little quirky ads.

Putting it in the context of being aimed at sophisticated investors and businesses doesn’t really make the connection any more obvious.

If the loggers represent someone with a business interest in the protestor’s country, are they saying at the end that they’re in bed together and what’s really important is bail money?

Or Trojan.

“I don’t quite see how I ‘DEMAND’ anything.”

Nor do I see how it’s a FAIL – epic or elseways – merely because you SAY so. And by the way, the word “FAIL” doesn’t really carry as much weight as you might suspect. Ten year olds use it all the time. It’s snarky, but also glib, unremittingly hip, and utterly devoid of any real substance.

“I also work in advertising. Not that it makes me an expert, but maybe I’m even *more* shrewdly informed that you think. Scary, right?”

Not exactly. I half-expected you to say something along those lines, regardless of how accurate the claim is. To me, you’re just some pseudonymous guy on the Internet. I, too, have worked in advertising. See how easy that is? Perhaps I am more shrewdly informed than you think. Or perhaps not. Well, indisputably I am, but I’ll let you cling to your delusions of grandeur.

I stand by my earlier assessment. Anything that generates a buzz is a success, be it minor, moderate, or extreme.

“Yes, the logo could just as easily have been replaced with that of another company. And that’s exactly why it *isn’t* effective marketing.”

Again, YOU don’t get to dictate that. Sorry. Think whatever you like. I’d be interested to know which tremendous feats of marketing you have masterminded that were any more successful. And maybe there have been a few. Who knows? The only thing I am certain of is that you are still just some guy, assailing an ad campaign online, to little effect. The reasons you’ve cited for its “failure” are unconvincing and utterly inconsequential, given the buzz it’s generated, however remarkable that buzz may seem to you.

So, in brief, we’ll agree to disagree. That still doesn’t mean that you’re right. Judging from some of the positive (and negative) responses here, I’d say that you’re dead wrong. Such is life. Or, to put it another way, EPIC FAIL.

They’ll be four pictures up in a row. Let’s say it’s: dog, cat, dog and cat. And under that it’ll say love, hate, hate, love. Or similar.

Point being, different people identify with/like different things. And HSBC will take your money regardless.

As some have allready pointed out, this could be Diesel or Coke or allmost anything.

Or Trojan

You know, that way the ad would actually make MORE sense.

I think the tagline at the end should be

Trojan – because some people just should’nt have kids

And then the ad would make its point regardless if you side with Henry or the girl, or weather you think they are lovers or a father and a daughter.

Conceptual, executional FAIL.

final verdict:
predictable non-news item gets blog time, face time, impressions for the mega-corp.

join a local credit union and … for lack of a better word, fuck the international banking system.

And no, I’m not a PR agent for HSBC :)

I wish more sponsors would go this route, and would think better of those that did.

Anyone with an advertising background know if this sort of practice actually exists?