The Challenge
Opening a new branch and making a brand statement.
How do you get a new branch to stand out in the financial district of Sydney? When you have to combat the head offices of major competitors, and most people are glued to their phones. Oh, and get across HSBC's sponsorship of The Royal Botanic Gardens, their commitment to sustainable finance.
The brief was layered: announce the branch, communicate the brand's sustainability credentials, and do it in a way that would cut through one of the most advertising-saturated precincts in the country.
The Approach
Creating awareness through a living icon.
We reached into HSBC's heritage and took out their Lion — the icon that has guarded branches since the 1920s and appears on every HSBC credit and debit card issued in Australia. And we literally brought it to life.
We created a living, 4-metre high Lion from over 5,600 individual plants. The installation stopped people in their tracks in one of Sydney's busiest pedestrian corridors, while simultaneously communicating HSBC's commitment to sustainable finance through the medium itself.
We also used social and outdoor to highlight HSBC's positive stance on climate change — locally and globally — connecting the installation to a broader communications narrative.
Social Campaign Film
Out-of-Home Campaign
Build Timelapse
The Results
Our lion got noticed.
- 4.8 million impressions via social, against a target of 2.7 million — 78% above goal
- 100% positive social sentiment, which is genuinely unheard of for a bank
- Organic amplification by Australia's Celebrity Gardener, Jamie Durie, who posted: "Living Lion… speaks to their commitment to sustainability"
- Broad media coverage connecting the installation to HSBC's sustainability platform