How it started

HSBC Indonesia wanted to connect with Millennials in Indonesia, developing  innovative products and services tailored to their unique needs. Millennials were commonly portrayed as outgoing, sociable individuals with lofty dreams and expectations. HSBC wanted to go beyond the demographics and get to know them better.

How we inspired change

We ran online surveys, forums and immersions with hundreds of Millennials in Indonesia to unearth valuable opportunities for HSBC, using their customer insight community. This ongoing community has been live since 2018 and is used for a variety of research challenges.

In interactive digital workshops with around 30 stakeholders from HSBC’s marketing team, we connected the client to consumers. This approach brought insights and opportunities to the forefront, paving the way for ideation and proposition development. Consumers were brought to life through visual personas, and during live digital dating sessions with the stakeholders.

How it lives on

Based on the input from the consumer community, we developed a set of personas underpinned by a framework articulating their financial mindset. Being able to immerse digitally in the daily lives of Indonesian Millennials and springboard new opportunities, and this during a COVID-19 lockdown, turned out to be an eye-opener for the HSBC team.

Mature Millennials turned out to be more pragmatic and less indulgent than they were previously perceived (e.g., focusing on providing for their families), especially during the pandemic. So, while they may be as digitally savvy and aspirational as their peers in other markets, we had to consider how Indonesian Millennials’ banking needs may be shaped by a survival mindset, a collective culture, religious beliefs and the immediate economic reality.

We transformed these insights into a series of ‘How Might We’ (HMW) opportunity statements, which we then used as the basis for a brainstorming session with the HSBC team to shape new propositions. Subsequently we supported the team in developing their ideas into consumer-facing concepts which were validated quantitatively on the community.