HSBC: We Are Not an Island

HSBC UK are kicking off the New Year with a high-profile initiative that builds on the multi award-winning 'We are not an Island'campaign. This year the focus is on home and belonging, and champions the idea that everyone, no matter their background, has the right to feel at home in Britain. Created by Wunderman Thompson UK, the ‘Home to so much more’ campaign launched in press, outdoor and social on 6th Jan, and will arrive on TV, VOD and cinema from January 12th, running throughout much of 2020. Comedian Richard Ayoade, the face of previous ‘Global Citizen’ spot, returns to front the 60 second TV ad which will also run as a 30 second edit. In the TV ad Richard ponders the question, “Where are you from?” We see him observing grainy 1970s footage of a new born baby and family in an English hospital setting. We then see a very different birth scene captured in black and white in 1950s India. Richard answers his original question with another set of questions: “Is it where you were born? Or where your parents were born?”. The narrative challenges the viewer to consider the same question back through an infinite number of great, great, great grandparents to the point that Richard loses count. The ad then cuts to a further range of scenarios which also question the question, “Where are you from?” We see Richard at passport control “Is the answer in your passport?”; we see him travelling back to British suburbia in the 1980s riding a BMX “Is it where you grew up?”; we see him backpacking abroad (Could it be where you found yourself?”; and at a wedding where Richard seems to be officiating “Or is it where your heart is?”. In the final scene Richard walks past a young couple moving into their new home, a typical Victorian terrace. He concludes that perhaps the question shouldn’t be, “Where are you from?” but “Where do you feel at home?” The spot closes with Richard telling us that “We are not an island. We are home to so much more.” The brand promise – Together we thrive – then appears on screen.