How Hang Seng's Lunar New Year campaign flipped the narrative

Hang Seng Bank has seen an uptick in brand sentiment following the launch of a new citywide campaign that appears to address misconceptions about its previous branding. The earlier campaign, featuring the tagline “Deeply rooted. Ever evolving” (恒久・恒新), raised eyebrows due to its reversed phrasing, which some perceived as resembling a vulgar expression. 

In its second-phase rollout, the bank introduced a festive new slogan—“日日恒運 處處生財”—to coincide with the Lunar New Year. This latest effort enlisted local celebrities to personify the God of Wealth, a well-known symbol of prosperity, spreading festive cheer across all 18 districts in Hong Kong. 

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According to social intelligence firm CARMA, the refreshed messaging resonated more positively with audiences than the first-phase slogan. From 23 to 30 January, online discussions around the new tagline focused on themes of prosperity and celebration, with keywords such as “God of Wealth" (財神) , "wealth generation" (生財), and "New Year greetings" (賀年), as well as the names of participating influencers. 

By contrast, chatter about the earlier slogan “恒久・恒新” continued to centre on its unintended double meaning, with words such as “netizens" (網民), "advertisement" (廣告), "critique" (評論), and "reversal" (倒轉) dominating conversations—highlighting lingering scrutiny over wording rather than campaign intent. 

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE on Threads also saw a mix reactions from netizens, with some saying the second phase of the campaign acts as a response to the previous controversial slogan, while some said the new tagline doesn't sound right. 

Unearthing insights

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, a spokesperson for Hang Seng Bank explained the strategy behind the second phase: “The Hang Seng God of Wealth has been a symbol of prosperity and good fortune since the 1970s. This year, we reimagined this tradition with well-known artists, sharing festive greetings and positive energy across all 18 districts.” 

“We selected a palindrome-style tagline—’日日恒運 處處生財’ and ‘財生處處 運恒日日’—to enhance the festive spirit and share the joy and blessings with the community,” the spokesperson added.   

While the Chinese New Year campaign was not a calculated response to the chatter around their new brand direction, Jay Ng, director, So Don’t Bore, said Hang Seng made the right call by not explicitly jumping into the comments section or trying to explain away the jokes.  

“A brand's core beliefs and long-term vision shouldn't be tossed aside just because of a short-term social media moment. By launching this second phase with the God of Wealth, they’ve shown that both the bank and the public have moved on. It is a sign of a confident brand to just keep walking and let the noise fade into the background naturally rather than getting defensive,” he added. 

Frankie Fung, former DDB HK’s chief creative officer, said the fact that Hang Seng’s move is clever and open-minded. “By taking this opportunity to interact with the local netizens in a down-to-earth and humorous way, Hang Sang would create a positive social buzz and affection with the local people.” 

Moreover, Hang Seng can further play around this word play structure, creating a unique “Hang Seng Sentence Pattern” which only Hong Kong people can understand, he added. “This can strengthen Hang Seng’s Hong Kong local bank image.” 

How can brands avoid backlash?  

According to Ng, no amount of caution can eliminate every potential misstep. “You can try to be your own worst critic or bring in a dozen fresh pairs of eyes to look for every possible double meaning, but mistakes and surprises are part of the game. If you become too hyper-sensitive, you end up killing the very creativity that makes people pay attention in the first place.” 

He warned marketers against letting fear dominate the ideation stage. “It is easy to think you are being responsible for playing it safe, but you are actually just being a gatekeeper instead of a guardian. You have to trust the brand’s belief and follow through. Don't let a small rock on the side of the road stop the whole car."

What saved Hang Seng here was the fact that the general sentiment stayed fairly neutral or even playful, he said. “People can tell when a brand has no bad intentions or hidden agendas. If you are truthfully good and operate with kind intentions, you will win people over in the long run even if there’s a little hiccup along the way.” 

Fung echoed this, advising brands to focus less on over-explaining and more on meaningful action. “Brands do not need to talk too much, just walk the walk and take real action constructively and humbly. Besides, brands can seek comments internally with different departments and if time allows, they can also do focus group research before launching the campaign to the market.” 

On the PR front, Jessica Man, managing director at Sinclair, said brands can’t automate every nuance with tools/AI, so it’s important to keep humans in the loop.   

“Assemble a mixed review panel with multi-lingual speakers, multi-generational voices, especially Gen Z and Alpha, and creators. Have them read the line aloud, check it forwards and backwards, and scan for homophones,” she added. 

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