Domestic abuse is a prevalent, yet hidden crime in the UK. The police receive a domestic abuse-related call every 30 seconds, but less than 24% of cases are ever reported. The problem becomes more sinister when you explore the role finance plays.

Physical and emotional abuse are the weapons abusers use to torment their victims, but finance is the tool that makes it impossible for victims to leave. Economic abuse occurs in 95% of domestic abuse situations but 69% of the UK don’t understand the link between the two.

Our brief was to raise awareness of how finance traps victims in abusive relationships. And to highlight that all 352 HSBC UK branches are now ‘Safe Spaces’ where those experiencing domestic abuse can take their first step to regaining control through specialist advice and support. Even if you don’t bank with HSBC UK.

We chose to focus on an issue that was relevant to HSBC UK’s core competency in finance, knowing credibility was key in landing HSBC UK’s new brand purpose, ‘Opening up a world of opportunity’. This approach helped us avoid the pitfalls of competitors, whose purpose comms often championed the good but totally unrelated causes they funded.

We brought the campaign to life across a full 360 plan: kickstarting the conversation with a PR driving stunt where a woman was bound to a giant OOH site with puppet strings, building awareness of the problem at scale through media, educating the public on how to spot the signs of economic abuse, and most importantly, connecting people in need to help through targeted media.

For a target audience who are under financial control, we then created a discreet media approach - focusing on formats where they were more likely to be alone.

To sustain awareness, we staggered paid media between May and December 2022.

It started with data-driven targeted OOH formats, leveraging a blend of mass reach channels with discreet locations like bars, gym changing rooms, motorway services and hospitals to reach people on their own.

Our AV ad ran across ITVX, Sky, VOD, and Netflix’s “Basic with Ads” tier, with data-driven targeted VOD ads enabling HSBC UK to direct viewers to their closest branch via a dynamic store locator.

Keywords and contextual targeting in social helped reach users who were searching for support.

Digital audio targeted placements and platforms where users were expected to have their headphones in.

We also ran specific media in specialist print titles, targeting women from minority ethnic backgrounds, who are 150% more likely to stay in abusive relationships.

Visits to the ‘Financial Independence’ landing page increased x5 during the campaign period, further educating the public and connecting victims to the help they need.

Spice Girl, Melanie B also lent her voice to the campaign, thanking the bank for their support and understanding of abuse, increasing our message’s reach.

The campaign drove an increase in consideration, which grew by 4%, driven by the younger 18–34-year-old audience, which saw an 8% uplift during the quarter. This was ahead of the rest of UK finance category.

Perhaps most impactfully, the campaign created change within the bank, rallying its divisions in support of tackling economic abuse. The bank realised abusers were misusing payment references to send abusive messages to their victims. To combat the issue, HSBC implemented a warning system, which to-date has driven a 40% reduction in the number of abusive messages sent on HSBC’s banking platforms.