A case in point of effective global services marketing is HSBC, whose slogan is “The World’s Local Bank.” In 1999, HSBC decided upon its eponymous acronym to umbrella 19 different banking brands in 79 countries. But the basic service is the same across every country, in every branch, on every street corner. The difference lies in the one-to-one delivery of the service which, conveniently enough, presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Great service can win the day, but the human element is also difficult to control and, as we all know from experience, can actually lose customers if the service is not delivered effectively.
But does the HSBC message truly resonate? It did and does with me. At least enough that The Daily Brand Group does a large part of its banking through HSBC, and primarily because of its localized offerings in Hong Kong and China, as well as a mile from our Los Angeles offices. So we were sold on the invisible, but it mainly came down to one of the oldest adages in the business … “location, location, location.”
Posted by: Colin Mangham