HSBC

I would say the work came out with really with no idea, there was no concept to the work, it was just pictures of the golfers, and a generic line on it that said, 'Catch the best women golfers in action at HSBC Women's Champions.' For me, I think it was just a very average kind of idea, obviously expected. [5443]
it was just pictures of the golfers, and a generic line on it that said, 'Catch the best women golfers in action at HSBC Women's Champions.' For me, I think it was just a very average kind of idea, obviously expected. [5464]
A lot of the reasons why I don't think it went well from a creative point of view was that there were way too many people involved in the project, there were too many restrictions from outside sources such as the talent management people [5465]
A lot of the reasons why I don't think it went well from a creative point of view was that there were way too many people involved in the project, there were too many restrictions from outside sources such as the talent management people, the International Golf Association, not sure what they're called, but people that are not related to the actual industry from either agency point of view or client point of view. There are people that have just got an opinion because you are using professional golfers, and that actually had a huge impact on the type of work that we created. [5446],[5445],[5444]
Okay, in terms of media and the budget that they woulda spent on this, it would of been one of the biggest for the year for HSBC. It had multiple media touch points: it was TV, it was print, it was outdoor, it was everything, it was direct mail, it was hotel room dress up, lift lobbies, branch stickers. In terms of the scope of work, it was huge, which also makes it very difficult to come up with an interesting or creative idea because in general they like to adapt the work to everything and to give it a consistent look and feel. As soon as you have a requirement like that, the work can become very generic, which it did. [5447]
I wouldn't say that it failed to communicate to the public what this was about, I mean it didn't fail in a communication aspect, it just didn't really live up to a very creative idea. You've got to look at both of them when it comes to ideas, because they are obviously that can do both, communicate and be creative. Then there are ideas that are too creative and don't really get the message across. In this case the message was clear, but average message. [5448]
Because I'm not sure as to how many product groups that they would have got approval from. There's many silos in HSBC, you have credit cards, you have insurance and investments, you have home loans, and so, all of these guys, because if there's a branding exercise, they all have ways of tying in with women's golf. Even though it's supposed to be a branding exercise, they have equal say, because each one has a head on all of those departments. Then obviously from there you have a brand guardian from a client point of view who oversees all of that stuff, and then from the brand guard you have to go up to the next level, which is one of the top people in HSBC, and then because the project is so big, and it's going to have so much profile, and it's expensive, the CEO sees it as well. Not just that, after that, it has to go to global headquarters for approval as well. [5449],[5450],[5451]
hen, right back at the agency point of view, you have CD and you have suits who all have an opinion as well. [5466]
So global have their own point of view, local has their own point of view, and on top of that you have the, I'm not sure what they're called, but the golf association which handles all the female, professional golfers, and gave their feedback on what you're allowed to do and what you're not allowed to do in terms of visuals, how you can use the people's profile pictures, terminology in terms of golfing facts and things like that. So, there are multiple people involved. Then, right back at the agency point of view, you have CD and you have suits who all have an opinion as well. [5454],[5452],[5453]
I think the brief was fairly straight forward, it wasn't a complicated brief. The complications came when you started to actually create the work and realize that there were a lot of things that you couldn't do, and you couldn't say. The brief itself was clear, but I guess if you were to make the brief really solid then you would put in all the restrictions as well, right at the very start. [5455]
The complications came when you started to actually create the work and realize that there were a lot of things that you couldn't do, and you couldn't say. The brief itself was clear, but I guess if you were to make the brief really solid then you would put in all the restrictions as well, right at the very start. [5467],[5468],[5469],[5470]
Not really budget, they were always gonna give this project a good budget. It was more a case of coming up with all the ideas first, looking at what was the best media placement for a lot of these ideas, and then working out what the budget would be for all the things that client and both agency liked. It was a bit of a pick and mix, it wasn't media defined what the requirements were, which is usually the case. A lot of the time media will say, 'You need do a TV ad or a print ad, and the budget is this.' Whereas with this case it was more we just did a full activation campaign, which was everything, and then the client kind of looked at what things they liked and then wanted to know how much it would cost if we did bus, or we did TV and stuff like that, so budget wasn't really too much of a restriction. [5456]
Time frames, original time frames were okay in terms of coming up with ideas and stuff like that. Execution and actually producing the work and getting it out on time was kind of a common problem, it was a bit rushed. [5457]
I think we put forth about three concepts in terms of directions, then elaborated on one direction that we really liked, which then got watered down to what eventually came out. [5458]
Honestly, they had little control as well from the local client. There were a lot of things that they couldn't really control as well. It was more a case of us trying to make the local client look good, make sure that they were happy, because a lot of things were out of their control. [5471]
Relationships are good, this client is a good client, worked well with them. Honestly, they had little control as well from the local client. There were a lot of things that they couldn't really control as well. It was more a case of us trying to make the local client look good, make sure that they were happy, because a lot of things were out of their control. [5459],[5460]
The team functioned fine, there was no real drama or issues in that respect. I think we were frustrated just with the amount of restrictions and changes that went on, there were a lot of changes. I mean, I say that from a creative and suits point of view, there was a lot of tension because it was a long project, because the amount of changes that came in. [5472]
The team functioned fine, there was no real drama or issues in that respect. I think we were frustrated just with the amount of restrictions and changes that went on, there were a lot of changes. I mean, I say that from a creative and suits point of view, there was a lot of tension because it was a long project, because the amount of changes that came in. It wasn't just the change to a print concept, if there was a slight change, it affected everything, so you ended up having to change almost ten different mediums. It was time consuming and frustrating. [5461]
... but we like to give them grief when they're giving us a lot of stuff to do. It's more of a friendly banter as to, 'You're giving us more changes?' and then as usual questioning how come we got changes again, but we still make the changes. [5462]
I mean planning for our agency, there was not a lot of involvement between planning and creative. They tend to just do it on their own and then discuss with us, then that's that there. They're a little bit more elite in that way when it comes to the briefing. I mean, obviously we have a discussion about whether it's the right way to go. I wasn't involved in the planning stage though, so my involvement really took place when the brief came in. [5463]
Reference Tags
[5443] Lack of challenging work,[5464] Reactance,[5465] Indecisive leadership,[5446] Indecisive leadership,[5445] Micromanaging,[5444] Reactance,[5447] Lack of challenging work,[5448] Lack of challenging work,[5449] Indecisive leadership,[5450] Insufficient Feedback,[5451] Vague goals,[5466] Indecisive leadership,[5454] Indecisive leadership,[5452] Insufficient Feedback,[5453] Vague goals,[5455] Reactance,[5467] Dismissive,[5468] Indecisive leadership,[5469] Reactance,[5470] Status quo bias,[5456] Appropriate resources,[5457] Planning fallacy,[5458] Compromising conflict about ideas,[5471] Forceful conflict about relationships,[5459] Internal changes/challenges,[5460] Micromanaging,[5472] Indecisive leadership,[5461] Resilience,[5462] Compromising conflict about ideas,[5463] Communicating ideas across domains