Pictures and Words #1

The all-time, most popular post on this blog is not a story or photos of our travels.  It is a post called “The Different Values of HSBC” which is about a series of advertising posters created for HSBC. It was posted on December 19, 2009. Take a look.

The posters were widely seen in airports around the world several years ago. As you will see, these three-panel ads come in two flavors:

• same picture, three different words
• same words, three different pictures

I(Chris) liked them a lot and put what I found online in a couple more posts. These three posts have become perennial favorites each receiving at least several hits per week. We even found a page on Pinterest about our blog with a bunch of pins on these posters.

See more of the posters at  – More different values of HSBC, and Even more different values of HSBC. They will make you smile.

In one of the posts, I said I will make some up myself. Here is my first attempt (without the iconic red border).

I am not sure if the vertical orientation works as well as the original horizontal arrangement. I also wonder if the original series, all about HSBC, influenced my choice of the photo (Citibank) and words in the panel. I hope to create some more in the future because once a good picture is found, it is fun to try out different words. After the picture is processed, Microsoft Power Point and a screen capturing tool were used to create them.

Here is the picture without any word. Have a go if you want. I would love to see what other “words” you choose.

You have permission to use the photo for non-profit purpose.

And last but not least, happy thanksgiving people.

If you see ads below here, they have nothing to do with us.

Floralp butter advertising campaign

We have not posted on the topic of advertising for quite a while. The last set of posts directed to the advertising of HSBC in airports worldwide has been a perennial favorite of this blog – if you are curious, you can find them here, here, and here.

Floralp is a Swiss brand of butter and their most recent campaign made us smile.

“Les fripons du beurre Floralp”

We saw this first at a bus shelter in Lausanne. Then we started noticing them at various locations – train stations, billboards, etc.

We call them the “butter bandit family”. The images are very endearing.

We saw Floralp’s previous campaign too, but in my (Chris) opinion, while it was cute, it lacked warmth and fun.

“Ballon”

Some of these ads work as a sequence.

“Hamster se cache”

The ads were created by Leo Burnett Switzerland – you can see more of their work here.

“La Tartine”

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“Croissant”

“Tresse”

We have bought Floralp’s butter from the supermarket (not because of their ads though). It is fine product.

Floralp is providing some of these images as wallpapers and screen savers on their web site – here.

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Even More Different Values of HSBC

This is the third and last batch HSBC’s ads that I have gathered.  Just more examples of the juxtaposition of three different images and one word, or three different words and same image.  The other two posts are here: The Different Values of HSBC, and More Different Values of HSBC.

Disclaimer: I do not have an account with HSBC.  Nor do I own shares in JWT who created the ads, or its marketing giant parent WPP.

To see my first attempt in creating a panel, click here.

More Different Values of HSBC

My earlier post about HSBC’s ads that appeared in airports in 2008/2009 continues to receive viewings, according to blog stats.  Apparently, someone out there is interested in them. So, here are some more ads from the same campaign, more examples of using three images and a word, or a single word and three different images, to provoke a reaction.  A link to the earlier post is here: The Different Values of HSBC.

I have added another post with more from the same series: Even more different values of HSBC.

To see my first attempt in creating a series of “same image, three words”, click here.

The Different Values of HSBC

“Different Values” is a series of print ads created by JWT for HSBC in 2008.  They were seen at US airports, mostly inside a ramp. I love its relativistic, Rashomon-like qualities. In the examples above, they had three different images and one word, or three different words and same image; a fourth panel shows the HSBC logo and slogan.  Earlier versions did not identify the bank but show two images and two keywords, each with opposite meanings.

The ads turned heads because of its boldly-framed, focused imagery and simple text, which makes one smile.  I assume the bank wants to illustrate its sensitivity to the diverse background of potential customers.  Aimed at travelers and immigrants, one don’t need much English to understand the message.  I think people may remember the cleverness of the ad but wonder how well they will connect it with HSBC.

N.B.  This post is a perennial favorite here.  For those interested in more HSBC posters, visit these two posts on this blog: More different values of HSBC and Even more different values of HSBC.  Enjoy.

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I am going to try make a few, and if they look good, I’ll post them here.  – C

Well, I gave it a go.  To see my first attempt in creating a panel, click here.