• August 31, 2010

HSBC Bank's new "out-of-home" (OOH) ads make use of first-ever placements in unsual places on the streets of New York.

From nautical cleats and coin-operated binoculars at the South Street Seaport to halal food carts and flower planters citywide, objects large and small are repurposed to become the center "image" of new ads from the bank's "Unlocking the World's Potential" campaign.

The objects are "framed" by surprising global insights and facts, and the proposition that New Yorkers "discover the world's potential with a bank that knows how to find it," according to the ads' tagline.

Locations include the South Street Seaport (flower planters, nautical cleats, manhole covers, coin-operated binoculars), Bryant Park (light posts, water fountains, magazine stands) and Greely Park in Herald Square (trees, recycling bins, subway entrances).

In other parts of the city, the ad locations include pedicabs, storefronts, bus shelters and food carts. In upstate New York the ads will be featured at gas stations in Buffalo, Albany and Rochester, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo, and Crossgates Mall in Albany, N.Y.

JWT and Kinetic, a subsidiary of Mindshare, created the campaign.--Tanya Irwin