Commercial Big Business Award

Winner: HSBC Bank Australia

(Left to right): Vivienne Trinh – Branch manager  HSBC Swanston St Branch, Naomi Hama, Head of client servicing Multicall, Sheba Nandkeolyar CEO Multicall, Subhas Menon, Regional vice President, South West Pacific Singapore Airlines, Keith Lewis, Head of Branch Network HSBC,  Melissa Ison, Assistant Marketing Campaign Manager HSBC, Lavender Tsim Branch Manager  HSBC Chatswood branch

HSBC won the award for a copybook multicultural marketing strategy to double the number of term deposits traditionally lodged at Chinese New Year.

In its nomination for the awards, the bank pointed out that Chinese New Year, as the most important event on the Chinese calendar, is marked by large celebrations with family and friends, wishing prosperity to others and, essentially, a time of giving. It is also typically considered an auspicious time when financial and investment decisions should be made, like taking out term deposits.    

The idea was to use all of cultural resources of the bank’s staff to penetrate the local Chinese community at the time of the lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit. The result achieved a record number of new term deposits with record funds invested.

The Chair of the Community Relations Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said: “Entries like that from  HSBC vindicate totally the Commission’s vision twenty-one-years ago in launching these awards to discover and spotlight creative and effective use of cultural diversity to expand business and trade opportunities.

“For example, Chinese-speaking staff at the bank took part in numerous radio interviews on 24 hour Chinese radio stations, further educating the audience on the benefits of HSBC’s special product offer. On weekends, staff members were also involved at the grass roots level, taking part in large Chinese New Year festivals and events that the bank had sponsored”, Mr Kerkyasharian said.

The campaign was directed by Sydney marketing consultants, Multicall Connections.