A Bank Full of Surprises

This morning as I stepped into the Bandra branch of HSBC to pay my monthly home loan EMI, the sight of a huge teddy bear sitting on a chair greeted me. I thought it must be part of the extended children's day celebrations!

But a closer look made me realise that this teddy was on IV drip!!

Actually the cute teddy-on-drips was a display for an HSBC and Tata AIG critical care insurance plan...Generally one would not even look at the in-bank hard/ soft sell...
But the teddy surprise made me click a snap and snap a leaflet as well as pose a query to the personal banker!

And this was not the first time that HSBC has done some memorable 'last-mile' stuff!
Around the time when Hanuman( the movie) was released, they were giving free Hanuman-pencil-sharpeners to the kids who came to the bank. My son, Neo was thrilled with this gift!

Again on Diwali, the bank was decked up with 'diyas', festoons, etc. They again gave a small Diwali gift to Neo who was tagging along with me.There was a stall selling small festive items (arranged by an NGO) - bank-that-reaches-out-to-the-needy-space!

The staff was wearing ethnic attire. And these are not one-off gimmicks. Even in the past, HSBC has celebrated other local festivals as well...
HSBC through its ATL and BTL communication has been really making an honest enough effort to connect locally.

HSBC communication( the World's Local Bank) has been quite clear, consistent and one can actually perceive the localization( increasingly even the models used in the print ads and posters are Indians).

On the other hand you have Standard Chartered, a brand that I know(or claim to know) a lil better as I used to handle it at TBWA. SCB makes great pompous sounding statements on the bill-boards and in print ads. But the in-bank-experience is quite the opposite!
Of course my sliver of experience is based again on the Bandra branch and my credit card transactions( have a 9 year old card with them)...

To give SCB credit, while they do invest heavily and consistently in the Mumbai Marathon, I suspect the act has now become a part of their annual corporate communication check-list...

And while the tag-line to the Mumbai Marathon says 'Feel the Spirit'. Unfortunately it is sorely missing in the in-bank environment.

One of the problems with a financial brand I feel is that it is heavily transaction driven. Therefore, every touch point every-time enhances or takes away from the brand experience. And while you may need the umbrella of great-canvas-thematic-ads, the excitement and the passion shown in brand initiatives at the last mile count a lot!

And HSBC clearly knows how to deliver those small touches. Oh, I forgot to mention, everytime I go to check my home loan status, I feast upon the Re 1 candy!
I feel even the most sophisticated and demanding of customers can be delighted with a small dollop of surprise. Check out the related Oct 12 post on Hedonistic Treadmill and Customer Service . And yes, mail me your own surprise stories!