How HSBC leverages sports sponsorships to drive brand consideration

With the Hong Kong government ramping up its investment in the sports economy and actively hosting major international events, more brands are seizing the opportunity to align themselves with the city's growing sports landscape through sponsorships and partnerships. 

Brand partnerships help build consideration for the brand and create a stronger emotional connection with clients at their best by showing up in places people genuinely care about, said Andrea de Vincentiis (pictured), global head of brand partnerships at HSBC, in an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

De Vincentiis oversees HSBC's global sponsorship portfolio, as well as its brand strategy and programmes across key markets in Asia-Pacific. He believes that partnerships only succeed when they are fully aligned with the broader brand and business goals. This includes HSBC-sponsored sports events such as LIV Golf Hong Kong in March and the Hong Kong Sevens last month. 

“They are different platforms, but they serve the same overall aim - connecting HSBC with clients and future audiences through passion points that matter in our key markets whilst also building brand consideration and employee pride,” said de Vincentiis. 

He added that Rugby Sevens has been a long-term HSBC partnership since 2010, built around values such as respect, integrity and team spirit while giving the bank a strong international presence. As for LIV Golf Hong Kong, part of HSBC's global LIV Golf partnership, it offers a newer format that complements the bank's golf history and keeps it close to where audience interest is headed.

De Vincentiis said: 

In Hong Kong, both the Sevens and LIV Golf play a role in showing the city’s appeal as a destination for major international events.

Bringing together business, sport and celebration all at once

With HSBC as long-term title partner of the Sevens series, this year's Hong Kong Sevens, held from 17 to 19 April, felt especially significant as it marked the tournament's 50th anniversary and showed the event is still growing - one that brings together sport, entertainment and business in a way few events can, according to de Vincentiis.

That week captured both sides of Hong Kong's appeal for HSBC, he said. The bank hosted 5,000 investors at its Global Investment Summit as a high-level lead-up to the Sevens, followed by over 3,000 guests at the tournament itself.

With this year's record attendance of 113,395, the mix of international appeal, local energy, and relationship-building is what makes the Sevens such a powerful cultural and economic connector, according to de Vincentiis. "It's also pretty unique in how it attracts and appeals to a varied fan base – from corporate C-suites to young families, and not forgetting the South Stand party-going faithful.”

More than that, it reinforced why the Sevens matters so much in Hong Kong: it is one of the city’s defining international events and a real point of pride locally.

How HSBC tracks ROI across three fronts 

With HSBC's long-term investment in the Sevens, the platform helps the bank connect with new customer segments and growth audiences in strategic markets, according to de Vincentiis. It does this through a mix of broad brand exposure and targeted client acquisition activities.

Looking at sponsorships more broadly, de Vincentiis said HSBC measures all of its partnerships through a consistent brand, client, and colleague framework. "On the brand side, we look at outputs such as reach and brand value, and then outcomes such as consideration and brand attributes among target audiences." He added: 

On the client side, we track how many clients we engage, the quality of that engagement, lead generation, and ultimately whether hosted clients deliver stronger revenue.

HSBC also measures the impact on its employees, including how many engage with the partnerships, how that affects employee engagement and pride, and whether it strengthens their belief in HSBC as a brand and a good place to work, said de Vincentiis. “We assess partnerships through our brand, client and colleague framework – looking at brand value, client relationships and acquisition, and internal colleague pride. Social impact sits within that broader picture.” 

Where community impact meets brand value

A lot of HSBC's focus in rugby goes beyond the elite level, said de Vincentiis. For example, its community-based programme HSBC Try Rugby, run with Hong Kong China Rugby and the Education University of Hong Kong, has reached 379 schools and over 76,000 students since 2017. In the UAE, HSBC-supported programmes have introduced more than 148,000 children to rugby, including nearly 60,000 girls.

For HSBC, programmes such as HSBC Try Rugby matter because they contribute to the community and the long-term health of the sport, while also strengthening how the bank is perceived both externally and internally, according to de Vincentiis. He added:

That is why we see them as part of the overall value of a partnership, not separate from it.

Along with supporting players beyond their playing careers through the Global Rugby Players Foundation, HSBC's vision for the future goes beyond the event experience and focuses on making the game more open, inclusive, and sustainable over time, he said.

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