Case Study
HSBC
The Opportunity
HSBC's ambition to position itself as the world's leading international bank required a brand expression that could operate coherently across wildly divergent cultural contexts — from Canary Wharf to Kuala Lumpur to São Paulo. The existing brand architecture had developed organically over decades and struggled to present a unified face to globally mobile customers who encountered HSBC in multiple markets.
Global brand system documentation and pilot branch implementations across Asia Pacific and European markets.
The Solution
We led a comprehensive brand expression programme, establishing a flexible global identity system that could adapt to local market needs without fragmenting the master brand. A refreshed colour architecture introduced cultural sensitivity without sacrificing recognition. New spatial design guidelines for retail banking made local design partners confident to execute to standard, and a digital asset management platform ensured brand governance at scale.
Our Impact
Brand consistency scores across HSBC's top 15 markets improved by 37% in the first year of the new system. The spatial design guidelines were adopted by design partners in 23 countries. Digital brand governance violations — flagged through the asset management system — decreased by over 60%, reflecting a step-change in how the organisation managed creative quality globally.
