The Challenge

As one of the world’s largest global banks, HSBC operates across markets where conversations about race, ethnicity, and identity are culturally complex and highly contextual.

For its marketing and communications teams, this created a real challenge: how to engage with these dynamics confidently and consistently—without oversimplification, missteps, or silence. HSBC needed clear guardrails and practical capability, not abstract theory, to help marketers navigate race and ethnicity as part of everyday brand decision-making.

Our Role

We partnered with HSBC to build cultural confidence across a global marketing cohort, treating race and ethnicity as core dimensions of audience understanding, brand trust, and relevance.

Our role was to normalise informed, responsible conversations—equipping teams with shared language, contextual insight, and practical judgement so inclusion could be applied thoughtfully across markets.

What We Delivered

Using an Unpack → Untangle → Unlock approach, we designed and delivered:

• A bespoke two-module global programme
  Tailored specifically for HSBC, the programme combined:

  • Context-led exploration of race and ethnicity in consumer perception

  • Real-world marketing scenarios grounded in global brand realities

  • Practical discussion of language, assumptions, barriers, and misconceptions

  • Clear framing of accountability and responsibility without fear-based compliance

• Live delivery across global cohorts
  Two modules were delivered to three international cohorts across time zones—ensuring consistency while allowing space for local context and discussion.

• Applied learning tools
  Scenario-based learning helped embed insight into day-to-day marketing judgement, supporting teams to move from awareness to application.

The Impact

• 100 global marketers reached and trained

• 33% increase in reported cultural confidence when navigating race and ethnicity in marketing contexts

• 100% referral and recommendation rate from participants

Teams left better equipped to make decisions with clarity, confidence, and cultural awareness - strengthening HSBC’s ability to show up credibly across diverse markets.