HSBC - Red is HSBC

Restoring red to the one brand that never stopped owning it.

Restoring red to the one brand that never stopped owning it.

Year

2026

Client

HSBC - D&AD New Blood 2026

Service

Branding, Art Direction, Copywriting, Campaign Strategy

Red is HSBC - Restoring red to the one brand that never stopped owning it.

Red is HSBC - Restoring red to the one brand that never stopped owning it.

Challenge

Red is the world's most contested colour. Familiar across every culture, every market, every meaning, but familiarity without identity is just noise. How do you make a global bank own a colour that everyone already uses?

Solution

I didn't make HSBC red. I proved red was always HSBC. A campaign built on 160 years of presence across every culture, every border, every moment that mattered, culminating in one precise, unshakeable identity. Pantone 1795C.

To bring it to life, I created a film that moves through the world's relationship with red, joy, devotion, adventure, grace, memory, one meaning at a time, one culture at a time. Each clip framed through a Pantone chip, the word beneath it simple and deliberate. No voiceover. Just red, speaking for itself. Building to one inevitable conclusion.

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