HSBC’s annual Expat Explorer Survey may well be the most famous of all expat campaigns. It was launched in 2008 and has since grown into one of the world’s best-known surveys of people living abroad. In recent waves there have commonly been over 4,000 respondents across around 100 countries: scale that few brand-owned expat studies can match.
The survey was devised because HSBC wanted to understand the expat community and the issues people face while living or relocating overseas. Because Expat Explorer covers money, work, family life and destination experience, it has helped the bank tailor services for existing and potential customers, and it has given journalists a reliable annual hook. For marketers targeting internationally mobile customers, it remains a masterclass in content-led brand building.
Why the campaign works when product ads stall
Most expat product advertising fights for attention in crowded categories: insurance, banking, telecoms, schools. Expat Explorer sidesteps that fight by publishing something the audience and the press actually want: comparative insight about life abroad. The brand becomes associated with expertise rather than interruption.
That distinction matters. Push media (display, paid social, cold email) can generate leads, but it rarely earns the unpaid distribution that a well-timed survey dataset can. Expat Explorer has repeatedly shown that a fixed research investment can return outsized visibility when the output is genuinely useful.
What we can learn from HSBC’s Expat Explorer
1. Do not write off branding that does not directly generate sales
The original strategic goal behind Expat Explorer was to prove to expats that HSBC understands their needs. Because the survey generates substantial press attention, it has also driven traffic to HSBC properties at limited incremental media cost. As one campaign framing put it, the bank was investing in compelling content designed to pull people into the website, as opposed to spending solely to push people toward the brand.
For B2B and B2C expat marketers alike, the lesson is not “surveys replace performance media.” It is that a credible annual asset can lower the cost of every other channel by warming the audience before the click.
2. Keep social media personable
HSBC has used social platforms to interact directly with followers. The human quality of those interactions lends credibility to the research itself. Expats are quick to dismiss corporate accounts that only broadcast product slogans; they are more willing to engage when the brand answers questions, shares destination snippets and treats comments as conversation rather than moderation risk alone.
3. Value outweighs PR-speak
Perhaps the most important takeaway is that a value-added product beats flashy claims. Expat Explorer earns coverage because editors and readers can use the rankings and themes, not because the press release says HSBC “cares about expats.” Proving expertise beats asserting it.
4. Fix the operating model around the asset
A survey this visible only works if research design, legal review, media relations, web UX and social are coordinated. Many firms commission a one-off PDF and wonder why nobody noticed. HSBC’s advantage has been repetition: journalists know the study returns, so they leave calendar space for it.
Anatomy of a survey-led expat campaign
If you want to adapt the model (at smaller scale), think in layers:
| Layer | Role | Expat-specific tip |
|---|---|---|
| Research design | Credible sample and questions | Cover money, settling-in, work and family: the topics movers actually debate |
| Data product | Tables, maps, destination scores | Make embeddable assets for journalists and affiliates |
| Owned hub | Landing experience | Fast mobile pages; clear path to relevant products |
| Earned media | Press and partners | Offer exclusive regional cuts, not only a global ranking |
| Social / community | Ongoing conversation | Answer comments; avoid pure broadcast |
| Performance wrap | Retargeting / search | Capture demand the content creates |
Illustrative timeline for a mid-size brand version
| Month | Activity | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Questionnaire design & soft launch | Pilot responses; legal sign-off |
| 3 | Fieldwork | Target sample by priority corridors |
| 4 | Analysis & asset build | Rankings, charts, city notes |
| 5 | Media briefings | Embargoed packs by region |
| 6 | Always-on amplification | Social series + SEO guides |
This timeline is illustrative; regulated financial brands will need longer compliance buffers.
How Expat Explorer sits among other sources
Marketers should not treat Expat Explorer as the only dataset. UN DESA international migrant stock figures (on the order of 280 million+ people living outside their country of birth in recent years) frame the scale of cross-border living. OECD migration publications frame flows into member economies. InterNations’ Expat Insider explores similar lifestyle themes with a different sample and brand context.
Use them together:
- UN / OECD for market sizing and geo prioritisation.
- Expat Explorer / Expat Insider for message hierarchy and destination storytelling.
- Your CRM and win/loss notes for product truth.
No survey replaces local compliance, pricing or claims experience, but surveys do help you avoid tone-deaf creative (“retire to the beach”) in cities where most arrivals are stressed professionals on two-year contracts.
Mistakes brands make when copying the idea
Publishing rankings without methodology. If respondents are mostly customers of one product line, say so. Credibility collapses when methodology is vague.
Hiding the product entirely. Pull content should still connect to a relevant next step: an explainer, a checker tool, a human conversation, without turning every chart into a hard sell.
Ignoring regional cuts. A global “best place for expats” headline travels; a “best for families in Asia” cut often converts better for local teams.
Treating social as a press-release dump. Personable interaction was part of why Expat Explorer’s digital footprint felt authentic.
Abandoning the asset after year one. The compounding value of an annual study is familiarity. One-off “insights reports” rarely earn the same habit among journalists.
Applying the lessons if you are not a global bank
You do not need 4,000 respondents in 100 countries to borrow the playbook:
- Pick a narrow question your ICP cares about (for example, “first 90 days costs in three Gulf cities”).
- Collect enough responses or structured interviews to be honest about limits.
- Publish useful tables and a clear methodology note.
- Brief niche expat and trade media, not only national titles.
- Build a simple hub that routes readers to the right product journey.
- Sustain a social cadence that discusses findings, not only promotions.
Even a 300-respondent corridor study, labelled clearly, can outperform a generic brand film for trust among internationally mobile buyers.
Measurement: what “good” looks like
Beyond vanity reach, track:
| Metric | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Referral traffic from press | Proof of earned distribution |
| Branded search lift in launch window | Memory effect |
| Time on hub / tool completions | Depth of engagement |
| Assisted conversions (30–90 days) | Commercial return |
| Share of voice vs category peers | Brand position |
Attribute patiently. Survey campaigns often assist conversions rather than closing them on the same day.
The bottom line for expat marketers
HSBC’s Expat Explorer is a model campaign because it combines new and social media, builds recognition and credibility, and drives web interest at a relatively predictable annual cost. The up-front investment in research is returned many times over when media coverage, SEO residue and sales conversations all reference the same trusted asset.
The incomplete lesson some teams took away: “do content”: misses the harder point: do valuable content on a rhythm the market can anticipate, keep the human voice on social, and let product marketing harvest the demand you earned rather than interrupting people who never asked for a pitch.
If you want to design a research-led or content-led programme for internationally mobile customers, get started or contact us: we help brands turn insight into pipelines without sounding like a press release.
