Most Creative Marketers: Becky Moffat

In the face of a society fragmented by political and ideological divisions, HSBC’s mantra is openness and inclusivity.

Back in 2018, as the UK prepared its Brexit strategy, the bank began emphasising the ubiquitous international aspects of everyday British life, from Colombian coffee to Swedish flat-pack furniture, Japanese cars, American movies and Indian takeaways.

Fronted by comedian Richard Ayoade, the Brexit-mood-capturing "We are not an island" work, created by Wunderman Thompson, was both “timely and timeless,” says HSBC’s Becky Moffat.

The 60-second “Global Citizen” TV ad, set to the soundtrack of Edward Elgar’s Nimrod, ended with Ayoade saying: "We live on a wonderful lump of land in the middle of the sea. But we are not an island. We are part of something far, far bigger."

“It was a very powerful campaign because it reflected popular culture; we’re hugely international in the way that we live our everyday lives in the UK, but Richard was able to reflect Britishness as well,” Moffat says.

The key message – that everyone thrives when connected to something bigger than ourselves – sits at the heart of the HSBC brand. In terms of changing the perception of HSBC from a bank for wealthy overseas investors to a bank for everyday UK people, it was a strategy that delivered results. Campaign architect Wunderman Thompson says people switching to HSBC increased by 140% and year-on-year current account sales climbed by 50%. Moffat credits the campaign with driving a reappraisal of the bank among many consumers, by showing “humanity and a sense of humour” behind the brand.

As a creative partner, Wunderman Thompson calls HSBC a “brave client”, Moffat says. But it’s a two-way street, she explains.

“They push us to be brave. And I’ve asked them to make us feel uncomfortable in terms of pushing us to think differently, and they do that brilliantly. They also recognise that sometimes there will be points at which we say, ‘that's too far right now’. But they are great partners, they challenge us, they introduce us to new ideas. And they do it consistently; question us and push us. So it's a very strong partnership and the creative team there have done great work for us.”

In the bank’s most recent work, “Borders”, also by Wunderman Thompson and starring Richard Ayoade, the focus is on breaking down barriers in society, such as racial divisions and the gender career glass ceiling. The work, released in September 2021, marks the launch of HSBC’s new global platform: "Opening up a world of opportunity".

Making purpose a reality

Those opportunities, believes Moffat, shouldn’t only be extended to those with roofs over their heads. The bank’s partnership with housing and homelessness charity Shelter means it’s offering financial support to people without a fixed address. The launch campaign, “Vicious circle”, followed a homeless person as she is denied access a bank account due to having “no address”.

By working with Shelter, HSBC is able to use homeless centres and refuges as the address and the guarantor of the individual, which enables it to meet the legal and regulatory requirements it is obliged to follow as a bank, so that homeless people can access its No Fixed Address account. The scheme has helped more than 1960 people so far. In the same vein, HSBC also offers a survivor account for victims of domestic abuse and trafficking, along with safe spaces in its branches.

“This work is part of our ambition to demonstrate that we are big enough to make a difference, but not too big to care. And our charity partnerships have driven a reappraisal of the organisation. People can see that HSBC isn't just a big corporate, it's heavily embedded into local communities and supporting those local communities to open up opportunity,” Moffat says.

She explains that purpose also runs through the other two brands under her remit: M&S Bank and first direct, two consumer brands with distinct heritages and identities – and a need for equally defined roadmaps. Over the next 12 months, Moffat says, more of the purpose behind these brands will begin to shine through in its campaigns.

The call of duty

The idea of purpose, and giving back to the community, is integral to Moffat’s work. A self-described “extraordinarily lively and upbeat” person, friends are puzzled by her love of gloomy Thomas Hardy novels, especially the depressing tale of Jude The Obscure, which has inspired Moffat’s approach to marketing, infusing it with a strong desire to tackle inequality and make the world a brighter place.

“It's important to me to feel that I can leave things in a better place than I found them. As a marketer, it can be held against us that we're trying to sell stuff that nobody wants, but financial services are so important in so many ways to so many people's lives, it's a real duty for us to make sure that it's accessible for people and that we're supporting them,” Moffat says.

In 2017, the need to deliver helpful user-friendly services emboldened Moffat to support the delivery of open banking capabilities and the financial management app Connected Money, which HSBC was the first large-scale bank to offer. The work, which she considers her boldest creative play, elevated the perception of HSBC as “much more innovative than we'd seen for quite some time in the UK,” Moffat says.

It taught her that balancing the basics and innovation to make sure the mix is right, both for customers and for the business, is essential. It all starts with customer intelligence, Moffat explains, which she sees as just one pillar of the “broad church” of marketing.

The success of the brand’s work around inclusivity would not be possible without inclusivity within the business itself. Moffat says the HSBC marketing team fosters strong relationships with stakeholders across the bank.

“We are professional marketers working with our business partners to grow the business and to deliver things that customers really want, and it’s a journey we’re on together. Marketing cannot just have conversations with itself, in an echo chamber. We really need to be in lockstep with the business, tightly aligned to the business strategy, which in turn needs to be tightly aligned to what customers need and want,” Moffat says.

Just like the HSBC brand itself, Moffat leads with one eye on inclusivity – and a keen awareness that marketing is not an island.

How I see it: The world according to Moffat

What do you enjoy most about being a marketer?

I adore the breadth. Marketing is often mis-defined as marketing communications. But it’s much broader; it’s customer strategy, proposition design, product, customer intelligence, behavioural science. The ability to let your imagination run, but then come back to ask: how is that really going to work? I love the proximity to customers – I find what makes people tick fascinating. The ability to bring that together with commercial outcomes is something that I find very exciting.

Looking to the future, what excites you?

The way people are integrating physical and virtual in so many walks of life, and how do we anticipate and meet people's needs in a world that's so blended? I am very excited about hybrid working, and the ability to spend valuable creative time with people, but also having that time to step away and think more, which I think we'd lost a little bit pre-pandemic.

What frustrates you?

People’s desires to conform. To create impactful and different things, you need to be different. You need to be looking at things at a 45-degree angle. If you're always trying to look straight on, you can't see a different route in. Sometimes we need to persuade people to look from a different angle completely to find a way forward. When the opportunity to challenge and question rules is closed down it's frustrating.