Specificity vs complexity: How HSBC and Deloitte differentiate in B2B

Deloitte and HSBC are both global powerhouse businesses, each with a significant international presence and influence in their respective sectors. While they have this in common, one of the key differences between the companies when it comes to marketing is the fact Deloitte focuses on the breadth and complexity of its offers while HSBC highlights the specific ways it can solve customer needs. According to the brands’ respective marketing bosses, both lean into their points of difference to tell their brand stories.

HSBC’s global head of B2B marketing Nicole German said the bank “is not trying to be all things to all people” and it has a “very specific focus” on the type of clients it goes after. In its B2B arm, this is businesses banking in the UK and Hong Kong, as well as companies that are looking to grow and trade internationally. She added that to tell HSBC’s story, the brand leans into the specific ways it can help solve its customers’ pain points in those three key areas.

As an example, she cited a recent B2B campaign HSBC did in 2024, which showed how it could help businesses finding it difficult to expand into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market. “The insight we had was ASEAN was perceived as a very fragmented market that was hard to do business with and companies weren’t expanding there because it was so complex, she said, speaking at the IAA B2B Brand Summit last week (17 October).

It’s a little bit of a dance presenting the complexity of what we do through the lens of how we’re different and what that difference feels like for customers.

Suzanne Kounkel, Deloitte

She explained the marketing solution from HSBC’s perspective was to say “Do it with a bank that’s done it before”, adding that the brand leaned into its heritage to show that it could “unlock and turn keyholes in those countries” and so drive business.

The bank presented this as a campaign that explained the difficulties of expanding into the ASEAN market for businesses and presenting itself as a legacy partner that could help solve customers’ problems. German said the campaign successfully helped to drive business in the region as a result.

“The specificity really worked because we could present the brand through the lens of what customers were going through,” German added.

Broad brush

While Suzanne Kounkel, Deloitte’s global and US CMO, admired how well specificity worked for HSBC, she explained that for her brand, the number of services offered is so “complex” that narrowness in brand messaging is “very hard to land”.

She said: “That’s why we are always going after customer loyalty.” For the most part, the brand’s priority is not about solely owning or acquiring new customers, but competing for attention and loyalty among existing customers.

Kounkel explained that historically, brand positioning has been challenging for Deloitte because the marketing would centre too much around what the company does, but the “product set was too complex” to make that unified. Instead, now she is CMO, she prioritises explaining “who Deloitte is and why we are different”.

It’s a little bit of a dance presenting the complexity of what we do through the lens of how we’re different and what that difference feels like for customers.

Suzanne Kounkel, Deloitte

As an example, she cited a 2024 campaign it did with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), with whom the brand has an ongoing partnership. Kounkel said the campaign aimed to show that “no matter the complexity of your problem, part of our brand promise is that we understand that problems present themselves in very different ways for the businesses we work with”. She added it wanted to show that “Deloitte has ways to solve all problems collectively and will help solve the problem for your individual business”.

She added that the business wanted people “to prefer working with Deloitte because they know the company has been solving complex marketplace problems, both known and unknown, for a long time”. 

As another example, she cited a social campaign the brand did when the green comet appeared on earth in 2023, for the first time in 50,000 years. She explained: “We did a fun thing on social about how we were there back then but crossed out the date and said ‘not really, but we have been here since 1845’, to demonstrate the difference and expertise of the brand.”

She admitted: “It’s a little bit of a dance presenting the complexity of what we do through the lens of how we’re different and what that difference feels like for customers.”