How HSBC Used Borders to Launch a Global Purpose in the UK
HSBC's 'Borders' is a 60-second UK film campaign created by Wunderman Thompson and launched in September 2021 that introduces the bank's global purpose — 'Opening up a world of opportunity' — by spotlighting the social, economic, and cultural barriers that restrict access to opportunity across British society.
The campaign arrives as the direct successor to HSBC UK's 'We Are Not An Island' platform, which first established the bank's inclusive brand narrative in 2017. Where that earlier work challenged perceptions of HSBC as a distant, elite institution, 'Borders' advances the conversation by naming the specific obstacles — racial division, gender inequality, geographic exclusion — that prevent individuals and communities from reaching their potential. The campaign positions HSBC not simply as a financial services provider but as an active force for levelling a playing field that remains uneven across the United Kingdom.
The 'Borders' campaign rolled out across multiple channels in quick succession. Social media activity launched on 23 September 2021, followed by television on 24 September and video-on-demand on 30 September, with the full media plan extending to out-of-home, digital out-of-home, print, and audio executions. The single film sits at the centre of this multi-format campaign and contains one primary media asset, with actor and comedian Richard Ayoade serving as the on-screen face of the work. The Clapboard Score for 'Borders' is 63 out of 100, reflecting the campaign's strong strategic coherence and cultural ambition within a competitive financial services landscape in the United Kingdom.
HSBC's 'Borders' campaign builds on a clear strategic insight: that many people in the United Kingdom perceive systemic borders — economic, social, and cultural — as fixed limits on their ambition, and that a bank operating at scale is uniquely positioned to address them. By connecting the brand's global purpose directly to lived social experience, Wunderman Thompson constructed a narrative that makes HSBC's financial promise feel personally relevant rather than institutionally abstract.
The campaign's strategic lineage matters. 'We Are Not An Island,' launched in 2017, was designed to counter the perception that HSBC primarily served wealthy or internationally mobile customers, according to Creative Salon. 'Borders' extends that repositioning by giving the bank a formal, codified purpose — 'Opening up a world of opportunity' — that can carry across all markets and communications. This formalisation of purpose is a significant strategic step, anchoring future brand activity to a consistent, testable idea rather than a campaign-by-campaign positioning.
The timing of the launch in Autumn 2021 also carries context. HSBC reported adjusted profits of $21.9 billion for 2021, representing a 79 per cent year-over-year improvement, according to hsbc.com. Operating from a position of restored financial strength, the bank used the 'Borders' campaign to signal that scale and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive. Creative Director Mike Watson at Wunderman Thompson articulated the ambition directly, stating, as reported by The Drum, that 'the campaign reflects the nation's desire for change and helps highlight that HSBC isn't too big to care, but rather that it's big enough to help make a difference.' That framing — size as an enabler, not a barrier — is the strategic spine of the entire campaign in the United Kingdom.
The creative execution of 'Borders' centres on a single, sustained visual metaphor. Richard Ayoade, the British actor and comedian, operates a white-line road-marking machine to draw literal borders across everyday environments, mapping the invisible divisions — racism, gender inequality, cultural exclusion — that restrict opportunity in the United Kingdom. The device is both concrete and conceptual: the machine is an instrument of demarcation, and Ayoade's act of drawing lines becomes a way of rendering abstract social barriers visible and, implicitly, contestable.
On screen, Ayoade moves through recognisable British settings, using the road-marking machine to inscribe boundaries that most people feel but cannot see. The film makes the metaphor explicit without being didactic, allowing the act of drawing to carry the argument. Ayoade himself contributed to the campaign's voice, stating, as reported by thedrum.com, that borders 'tend to get in the way of possibility,' grounding the film's central thesis in a register that is personal and direct rather than corporate.
Wunderman Thompson's creative direction is led by Mike Watson, who served as Creative Director on the campaign. Watson described the ambition to thedrum.com as one of equity and national potential: 'The UK's future opportunities need to be different to its past. The country and its people have so much to offer and achieve if we can level the playing field and create equal opportunity for all.' The film runs at 60 seconds and is supported by a wider suite of executions spanning television, video-on-demand, out-of-home, digital out-of-home, print, and audio — a full-channel deployment that extends the road-marking metaphor across both moving and static formats in the United Kingdom.
No independently verified third-party performance data specific to the 'Borders' campaign — such as brand lift, recall scores, or media effectiveness figures — is publicly available from named external sources at the time of writing. What is documented is the campaign's engagement record on the platform where it was archived: the film recorded 3,184 views and 9 likes, with no public comments, indicating a modest but measurable level of audience interaction for a finance sector film asset in the United Kingdom.
Structurally, the campaign demonstrates several hallmarks of effective purpose-driven advertising. The choice of Richard Ayoade as talent brings cultural credibility and tonal intelligence to subject matter — systemic inequality, racial division, gender barriers — that financial brands frequently handle poorly. The white-line road-marking device gives the campaign a repeatable, ownable visual signature across its six execution formats, creating consistency between the 60-second film and the out-of-home, print, and audio extensions. The multi-day, multi-channel rollout — social on 23 September, television on 24 September, VOD on 30 September 2021 — reflects a sequenced media strategy designed to build awareness before deepening engagement. The formalisation of HSBC's global purpose through this campaign provides a durable strategic platform that extends well beyond a single burst of activity, lending 'Borders' the structural quality of a foundation campaign rather than a one-time creative moment in the United Kingdom.
HSBC's 'Borders' campaign, launched in the United Kingdom in September 2021, introduces the bank's global purpose — 'Opening up a world of opportunity' — by using a 60-second film to explore the social, economic, and cultural barriers that limit access to opportunity across British society. It was created by Wunderman Thompson.
Mike Watson served as Creative Director at Wunderman Thompson on the 'Borders' campaign. As reported by thedrum.com, Watson described the work as reflecting the nation's desire for change and demonstrating that HSBC is large enough to make a meaningful difference in levelling opportunity across the United Kingdom.
Richard Ayoade, British actor and comedian, appears in 'Borders' as the on-screen talent operating a white-line road-marking machine. His cultural credibility and tonal range made him well-suited to address subjects including racism and gender inequality with both sincerity and accessibility for a United Kingdom audience.
'Borders' is the direct successor to 'We Are Not An Island,' which launched in 2017, according to creative.salon. Where the earlier campaign challenged perceptions of HSBC as elite and distant, 'Borders' formalises the brand's global purpose and names specific societal barriers restricting opportunity across the United Kingdom.
The 'Borders' campaign launched across the United Kingdom in September 2021. Social media activity went live on 23 September, followed by television on 24 September and video-on-demand on 30 September, as reported by thedrum.com. The campaign also extended to out-of-home, digital out-of-home, print, and audio formats.
The HSBC 'Borders' campaign holds a Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100. The score reflects the campaign's strong strategic coherence and cultural ambition, particularly its purposeful use of film as a medium to address systemic barriers to opportunity within the United Kingdom's financial services advertising landscape.
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