In 2011, HSBC faced a serious problem with trust. Surveys showed that only 50% of employees trusted decisions made by top management at HSBC. The credit crisis and a succession of scandals had left employees cynical and disengaged.

HSBC’s Employee Insight & Communications team was challenged to build a video channel that would unite a quarter of a million employees across the globe with a shared sense of community and purpose.

IMPLEMENTATION

HSBC Employee Insight & Communications has an internal team of producers who source and develop stories. They have editorial autonomy and sign off, and work closely with an external agency (MerchantCantos) to deliver broadcast-quality films.

TIMELINE

This project was started in early 2012 and it has launched at least one new film every week since then.

PLACEMENT

Initially, HSBC NOW was distributed weekly on the bank’s intranet as well as via team meetings and ambient screens. Increasingly staff wanted to share the films externally so we launched on YouTube and Twitter. We’ll also be on Facebook early in 2017.

SCALE

This project has broken all the bank's video audience records and has achieved response rates far beyond expectations. A 2016 survey of 24,000 employees showed that HSBC NOW content is employees' #1 source of pride in the company.