Marketing Magazine: Innovation of the Year (Jan coverage)

Written interview by Jordan Cheung, CMO, Hang Seng Bank

1. What was the prime objective for Hang Seng Bank to lean towards launching its own virtual
influencer for its campaign on its digital banking brand?

At Hang Seng, we constantly challenge ourselves to think out of the box and to develop flexible,
innovative and customer-friendly solutions for different lifestyles and stages of life. In digital
banking, consumers, especially young segments, look for holistic engaging experiences. So on
top of the 460 new digital innovations and enhancements implemented in 2022 to make
banking with Hang Seng simpler and more convenient, we want to adopt a fresh approach to
talk to our target audience in ways that match with their attitudes and lifestyles.

An innovative way to connect with consumers is necessary especially that competition in the
banking sector was intense, with other banks launching campaigns that feature multiple A-list
celebrities in one single commercial, not to mention a jump of 62% in ad spend (HK$366M) from
2022 (Source: Admango). The launch of Hazel aims at helping Hang Seng to breakthrough from
the advertising red ocean to secure the brand with top-of-mind awareness, to showcase our
advantages on our online capabilities and offline networks, and to create lasting impressions
among our customers.

2. The company said at the time of her launch, that Hazel aims to embody young ideals for the
Gen Z generation. Would you say Hazel’s persona was able to successfully resonate with this
consumer base of yours? If os, in what ways?

To fully understand the young generation’s lifestyle and mindset so we can embed the same
into Hazel, we conducted a survey with 750 people between the age of 18 to 30, digging into
their preferences and attitude to life. The essence of survey findings was injected into the
personality of Hazel. So, Hazel’s life philosophy echoes that of many young people: she aspires
to be independent, impatient to lead a life full of excitement, is able to explore at will, try new
ideas and experiences, and always ready to take on new opportunities.

Hazel first broke into the right circle on social media and was introduced to the young segment
via her IG page. She has also connected with audiences through various interfaces, including
releasing a duet with a popular singer-song writer, starring in Hang Seng’s Digital Banking
promotional video and collaborating with various famous artists and KOLs. Just to name a few,
her collaboration with Laiying (Post link) generated high engagement in one single visual post,
plus organic comment from young generation’s pop icon Serrini. The launch video also ranked
as YouTube’s 2nd most viewed video in Hong Kong in Jan 2022. From a post campaign research
tracking, we also got 69% of positive verbatim from young generation, with 59% frequent digital
users showed liking towards the campaign and 68% of interviewees saying they will consider
Hang Seng digital banking.

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3. Most brand-initiated virtual influencers fade out over time. How does Hang Seng Bank make
Hazel retain its relevance even almost over a year?

Like how consumers are evolving, we have to make sure Hazel progresses overtime. Hazel’s
collaboration with Poly University students, influencers or pop singers in its first year of debut
has proven to be successful, and we’ll continue to explore more collaborations that’s relevant.
The newly launched Hang Seng Digital Banking campaign that features Hazel is also an upgrade,
showing her interacting with her human friends.

In Jan 2023, Hang Seng is entering the world of Web 3.0 with the opening of the Hang Seng
Metaverse Branch in the virtual world of The Sandbox MetaGreen, and Hazel will be one of the
key elements at the Metaverse Branch. We hope to keep the market excited with fun and
innovative ideas featuring Hazel in future.

4. With the launch of Hazel, what has been the perception of her both from the general public
and those that are fans of virtual influencers?

We can tell from our post campaign survey that market is receptive to the idea of virtual
influencer, with high likings and people saying they want to see Hazel again. From YouTube
Brand Lift Survey (BLS), we also see a 10.7% increase in relative lift for ad recall, which is higher
than industry average of 7 – 8%.

Hazel’s IG account recorded majority of followers aged between 18 – 34 (71%) as of today,

which also shows that she’s popular among young segments.

5. What particular strategies and innovations did you use to make Hazel push through social
media and earn engagement?

Understanding the trend (like how consumers are following authentic & relatable influencers
than those offering picture-perfect lifestyles), leveraging data & result to draw insights and keep
exploring the newest technology is all what we have been focusing on.

6. What other future innovations does Hang Seng Bank have in line with Hazel?

We’re working on bringing Hazel to the next level through latest technology like motion capture
and AI that allows virtual and augmented interactions with customers – by then, Hazel can
attend live interviews and offer live unboxing experience to audiences. We’re also actively
looking at other collaboration ideas that can bring to live Hazel’s character and personality
more. Stay tune.

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 Hazel’s collaboration with multiple KOL @++laiza @jaime_ctw
@ari_le

Hazel in virtual outfit

Multiple collaboration with Poly University (Institute of Textiles and Clothing & Digital Fashion)

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 ‘Always by my side’ a song available at all major music channel like Spotify,
KKBox & Joox, sing by Jay Fung & Hazel

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