Great Idea: HSBC BankCab

I was reading trendwatching.com’s “Being Spaces & Brand Spaces” today, and as I read about the innovative being spaces and brand spaces that companies like Starbucks, J. Crew, and Nokia have created, I began to think about how this type of thinking could be applied to the financial services industry. Then, as I scrolled further, I was presented with two great examples of how financial services have applied these ideas; and, not surprisingly, the examples showcase ING and HSBC.

We are always stressing the importance of communicating your message consistently and effectively, and after reading about HSBC’s BankCab program, it’s obvious that Renegade Marketing Group (the brains behind the idea) had the same thing in mind when developing the campaign.

The campaign seems pretty straight forward on the surface. HSBC branded some 1982 taxi cabs in signature red and white colors, and sent them out to drive the streets of Manhattan; the cabs not only exposed the HSBC brand to a countless number New Yorkers, but offered free rides to HSBC customers to anywhere in Manhattan. The idea was developed to support HSBC’s tagline “The World’s Local Bank,” and this translated into having the taxis driven by New Yorkers who not only knew how to get around the city, but also were knowledgeable about restaurants, shows and all things local.

Another article on brandchannel.com tells of the calm experience in the cab, where the taxi drivers exhibit patience and politeness that would otherwise be non-existent in any other NYC taxi. And if this wasn’t enough, after the buzz was created, HSBC offered the free cab rides to non-customers as well for a twelve day period to give them a taste of the HSBC experience.

This is the type of innovative thinking that separates ordinary companies from the extraordinary; and, I agree with the statement from trendwatching.com, in that “we think this is an idea still ripe for copying.”