Case Studies

The Client

London headquartered banking major HSBC is the world's sixth-largest banking and financial services group. HSBC operates in more than 80 countries around the world, providing financial services to over one hundred million customers in territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.

In India, HSBC has a fast growing personal banking customer base, in addition to its corporate and commercial banking clients to whom it offers a comprehensive suite of world-class products and services.

The Brief

HSBC believes respecting environmental limits is fundamental to a sound economy and its future success as bank. As a part of its long standing commitment to protecting the environment, HSBC addresses the concerns of climate change with the HSBC Climate Partnership.

A corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, the HSBC Climate Partnership is a ground-breaking partnership between HSBC and The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF. HSBC Climate Partnership is a five year, US$100 million commitment to work with four leading climate NGOs and engage HSBC employees in understanding and taking action on carbon emissions. This concerted effort aims to combat the urgent threat of climate change by inspiring action by individuals, businesses and governments worldwide.

To communicate and promote the HSBC Climate Partnership on a digital platform, HSBC approached HGS Interactive.

The Approach

HGS Interactive proposed a dedicated website for HSBC Climate Partnership, linked to the main HSBC website. The HSBC Climate Partnership hence was built as a microsite that is featured on the main HSBC website. The microsite serves as a base camp for all the campaigns & promotions, also it's used for resource aggregation towards a cause and to educate & create awareness.

The HSBC Climate Partnership is a global partnership with users from a diverse background. Scientist, environmentalist, bankers, NGOs and HSBC staff along with other users come together as a global taskforce to drive change. Taking into account the varied background of users who would be interacting on the proposed website, ease of usability and content distribution was a priority during the design phase. The content & information were slotted and packaged into a clean style layout that was easy on the eyes.

The approach was to build a clear and clean website that provides information to inspire action, but doesn't look cluttered and rhetoric.

The Solution

• New layout was designed, as per the business requirement and brand guidelines.
• The design for HSBC Climate Partnership was starkly different in comparison to the corporate HSBC website, as the main navigation was designed in green hues in support of the environment cause.
• The navigation was kept minimalistic to facilitate quick reference by incorporating a single level navigation with just 4 sections that covered – HSBC Climate Partnership in India, What can be done by users to conserve the environment, Global Initiatives & Newsroom.
• As this was a partnership between HSBC and The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF, the homepage showcased each of the climate NGOs and provided a brief snapshot of the NGO with its commitment for the HSBC Climate Partnership highlighted aesthetically in the inner section of website.
• HSBC Climate Partnership showcases an on-going campaign on its homepage; the website also promotes other programmes that address sustainability for HSBC to manage its business across the world for a long term.  
• The powerful message to conserve the environment is diversified into many verticals & campaigns, for example, a recent HSBC Climate Partnership campaign highlighted the Ganges River Dolphin in its World Environment Day campaign. Campaigns such as these are showcased on the website to raise awareness and to educate on what contributions can be made for the cause.
• User engagement is encouraged through participation from HSBC customers to support a cause via contributions such as redeemable HSBC Credit Card points, and contributions through offline channels such as ATMs as well.
• The microsite was integrated with HSBC Content Management System 'Interwoven' to enable real time updates.
•  The HSBC Climate Partnership transmuted from digital platform to successful offline campaigns as well. Apart from the aggregated website promotion, various verticals of the website were promoted on the digital platform via Banners, E-Mailers, etc.

The Result

HSBC Climate Partnership has achieved real and tangible outcomes to conserve environment. The microsite maintains a track of these achievements, challenges and results of the partnership, while endorsing energy saving tips through optimising available resources. The microsite serves as a base camp to raise awareness on issues ranging from - securing and improving water supplies for millions to protecting the habitats of threatened species, and many more.

HSBC has seen direct commercial benefits from the Climate Partnership through a number of initiatives promoted on the microsite. The engagement of HSBC workforce to take action on climate changes stands at over 40,000 employees in India who connect on a singular platform - the HSBC Climate Partnership microsite to inspire action.