HSBC is one of the world’s biggest partners of sport, supporting golf, rugby sevens, tennis, badminton, cycling and football.

In 2020, almost overnight, sport suddenly stopped. Lives and livelihoods were affected, and the impact was not spread evenly. Women’s sport, in particular, was disproportionately affected by the shutdown of global sport. 

While the ongoing pandemic is still very much a factor in all of our lives, in sport there is now more of a look to the future, and hope about how sport will rebuild in a new normal. H+K helped HSBC craft a powerful point of view based on its brand purpose – as sport returns it must return better. More connected. More sustainable. More equal.

To set up HSBC’s mission for the coming months, and reaffirm the bank’s commitment to the growth of women’s sport after a difficult year, HSBC released a short film created and produced by Hill+Knowlton Strategies as part of their ongoing role working closely with HSBC across their global partnership portfolio. In the film, twelve female athletes speak up about the future of sport with a hope that together we can return stronger than before. A key question: What if normal was never quite good enough?

A break from sport has offered the world the chance to think about how we can look to broaden the opportunities of sport and ensure that we do not fall back into old habits. As a proud supporter of women’s sport across its six sporting partnerships, HSBC has worked with 12 unique female voices from rugby sevens, golf, tennis, cycling, badminton and football, to focus on one goal. Together, we build back better. A clear statement of purpose and values from HSBC that allowed some inspiring athletes to tell their own story.

The global reception of the film has been outstanding. In the first week, the film received a total of 5,198,439 views, 765,866 engagements, with a total engagement rate of 6.1%. On YouTube, the film has a view-through rate of 72.2%, demonstrating a strong appetite for HSBC’s goals within Women’s Sport. The film was also responded to by a variety of both female and male athletes and personalities within the sporting world, many of whom thanked HSBC for the film and for their support.