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BJ Bueno

Love K-Pop, Love Korea? It Might Be That Simple

In July 1970, American Top 40 was born – dominating the radio airwaves for decades and cementing Billboard Magazine’s iconic charts as the relevant metric for the industry. Just last month, they launched the “The K-Billboard Awards” to celebrate the accomplishments of K-Pop artists.

K-Pop is absolutely a musical phenomenon. Combining fun tunes, precisely coordinated dance routines and flashy fashion, the bands have gained popularity around the world. BTS is perhaps the most well-known group, but there are literally hundreds of others. If you’re reading this, the odds are pretty good you’re involved in brand building – so you know this type of global enthusiasm doesn’t just happen. So what’s going on?

Understanding Hallyu: The Rise of South Korea’s Cultural Economy

It was in the mid-nineties when South Korean economic officials began to realize how profitable popular culture could be. The profits from Jurassic Park – a mega-hit at the time – was the equivalent of exporting 60,000 Hyundai cars.

At this point, South Korea began investing heavily in developing its music and film industry. There’s been some critiques of how K-Pop musicians are trained in an assembly-line fashion, but no one’s knocking the cinematographers: Squid Games, Love and Leashes, and other South Korean offerings are earning rave reviews.

It’s important to understand that there’s absolutely an economic incentive to create and export great content. But we’d be naive not to examine this phenomenon in its greater context. The K-Pop phenomenon results in more people loving (or at least being quite fond of) South Korea. In geopolitical terms, that’s known as Soft Power.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which began writing about the K-Pop phenomenon in 2020, explains soft power this way:

“…being home to popular shows and bands is not in itself a form of soft power. There is a distinction between nation branding—a country generally promoting a positive but relatively shallow view of itself—and soft power. Soft power takes the appeal of soft resources—attractive pop culture fixtures like movie stars and pop icons, tourist attractions, and a welcoming environment for study abroad programs—and combines them to create, and solidify, new long-term changes in how people think about or interact with the country in question. After all, as the father of soft power, Joseph Nye, wrote, soft power is all about getting another party to want what you want.”

But Does It Work?

It’s one thing to say that creating a legion of fans for a particular country’s culture can influence politics – but does it work? Well, K-Pop fans famously (and fraudulently) registered for hundreds of Trump-rally tickets they never intended to use. This led to the former President to give a speech to a nearly empty house in Tulsa. Cable news had a field day playing and replaying the story, which, ultimately, to some degree, influenced the election.

Was this coordinated by the South Korean government or a spontaneous action of a cohort of like-minded individuals? These lines blur, don’t they, when we stop thinking of art as an end in itself and consider it instead as a strategic asset in an increasingly uncertain world? If you had Kim Jong-Un living next door to you, you’d want lots of friends too.

And if that means making beautiful music, beautiful music you will make.

November 14, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Seven Steps to Discovering Your Company’s Core Values

As a leader of your enterprise, this process begins with you—your interest, passion, and commitment to establishing a set of values that will guide your culture through decades of growth.

Taking the time to define your values, embody them, and keep them fresh and alive in everyone’s minds are some of the most vital things you can do to promote a thriving culture.

Arriving at a concise and short list of values can be a daunting task. You can find lists of 300 values to choose from. However, we don’t advise using any predetermined lists.

Why? Values aren’t selected; they are discovered. Freely associating in a brainstorming session with your employees will invariably yield superior results.

Ready to get started? Here are seven steps to creating distinct and meaningful core values that will serve as a foundation for your corporate culture:

Step 1: Begin with a Beginner’s Mind

It’s too easy to presume we know the answer at the start and to therefore never truly embark on a creative discovery process. Adopting the mind of a beginner—someone without any preconceived notions of what is—gives you access to more ideas and a fresh perspective on your business.

This is an important step in any kind of discovery process. In our firm, every time we begin a new creative project or the discovery of psychologically-driven consumer insights for clients, we always start with a Beginner’s Mind.

We believe it is imperative to approach the discovery of core values without any preconceived notions and beliefs about your culture and your business. Simply taking a deep breath and momentarily clearing your mind may be all that’s needed. Remembering that your conscious mind doesn’t know all of the answers is helpful too.

Step 2: Create your own master list of internal values.

The more experienced and engaged employees you can enroll in this initial process, the better. Set up a meeting with your leadership team first. Have everyone list what they believe to be your company’s imperatives, ideal behaviors, desired skills, and greatest strengths.

Ask:

What do you believe defines the culture at [company]?
What values do you bring to your work that you consistently uphold whether or not they are rewarded?
What do you truly stand for in your work? What do you believe [company] truly stands for?
What do our customers believe about us? What do they believe we stand for?
What values does our company consistently adhere to in the face of obstacles?
What are our company’s greatest strengths?
What are the top three to five most important behaviors we should expect from every employee (including you)? “Actual company values are the behaviors and skills that are valued in fellow employees,” explains Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Your goal is to discover the pre-existing values within your organization (assuming you’re not an early-stage start-up). It will be difficult to reinforce values that aren’t already part of your organization’s ethos. It’s best to highlight your organization’s current strengths and build on them.

While some companies hire an outside consultant to help uncover their core values (which is appropriate at times), it is vital that you as a leader are playing a role in facilitating the discussion. Your employees need to see that you’re taking this process seriously and that it’s not just some “corporate agenda” for appearance purposes. If you don’t take this process seriously, it’s unlikely your employees will.

If you are going to lead the discussion, however, be sure that you’re not shaping the conversation or influencing people’s answers.

Step 3: Chunk your values into related groups.

Combining all of the answers from step 2, you now have a master list of values. If you and your team took this process seriously, you may have between 25 and 75 values. Obviously, that’s far too many to be actionable and memorable.

Your next step is to group these values under related themes. Values like accountability, responsibility, and timeliness are all related. Group them together.

Step 4: Highlight the central theme of each value group.

If you have a group of values that include honesty, transparency, integrity, candor, directness, and non-political, select a word that you feel best represents the group. For example, integrity might work as a central theme for the values listed above.

This process is best done with a small team, but this brainstorming session can be an open meeting as well.

Step 5: Sacrifice and Focus.

Now comes the hardest part. After completing step 4 you still might have a sizable list of values. Here are a few questions to help you whittle your list down:

What values are absolutely essential to your work environment?
What values represent the primary behaviors your organization wants to encourage and stand by?
What values are essential to supporting your unique culture?

You can’t be all things to all people. Your culture is unique. It should emphasize what matters most to your collective. It should highlight what makes your organization a place that talented people want to work. It should represent both your current and the ultimate expression of your culture.

Strong values require difficult decisions to be made in order to uphold the values. Avoid prosaic or generic values (often listed in a single word, like “accountability”) because they won’t establish a strong, distinct culture.

How many core values should your organization adopt? Too few and you won’t capture all of the desired behaviors and unique dimensions of your organization. Too many and your employees will get overwhelmed and they will lose their overall impact. While the number of core values differs for each organization, the magic range seems to be between 5 and 10.

Step 6: Craft Your Company’s List of Core Values.

Now creativity really comes into play. You’ll notice in the core values examples from successful brands that none of them list their values in a single word like Integrity, Accountability, or Fun. While a one-word value might be easier to remember, it is difficult for a single word to become a distinct expression of your culture. More importantly, it is incredibly difficult for a single-word value to trigger an emotional response in your employees.

Highlighting values in memorable phrases or sentences forces your organization to define the meaning behind each value. It gives you the opportunity to make the value more memorable in the minds of your employees.

Be sure to enroll at least one strong writer from your team in this stage of the process. Here are a few tips and guidelines for crafting your values:

Use inspiring words and vocabulary. Our brains are quick to delete or ignore the mundane and commonplace. A phrase like “Customer Service Excellence” is not going to inspire you or your employees. Zappos’ “Deliver WOW Through Service” just might.
Mine for words that evoke emotion. Words and phrases that trigger emotional responses will be more meaningful and memorable in the minds of your employees.
Focus on your organization’s strengths. It’s fitting that a company like IDEO would promote principles like “Encourage Wild Ideas” and “Build on the ideas of others.” Play to your strengths in crafting your values.
Make it meaningful. Slogans and taglines are not core values. Make your value statements rich and meaningful to your employees.

Step 7: Test the Ecology of Each Value.

Once you’ve finalized your list of core values, it’s time to test.

Here’s a quick checklist to test the integrity of your new core values:

Will each value help you make decisions (especially the difficult ones)?
Are your core values memorable? Will every team member be able to encode them in their minds?
Does each value represent distinct elements of your overall culture?
Does each value speak to at least one desired behavior?
Will you be willing to uphold these values 50 years from now?
Are your values congruent with the behavior of your leadership team? Are these values BS-tested? Will an employee be able to observe hypocrisy?
Can your organization hold up these values in stressful and difficult situations (like increased competition, product recall, stock devaluation, or downsizing)?
Are you willing to defend these values unequivocally? That is, does each value permeate through the entire organization?

What clients say about the Cult Branding Process

“B.J. Bueno and his team at The Cult Branding Company respect and understand what so many strategists miss: before we can be experts on the product, sales, or the market, we must first be experts on human nature. They have a proven track record of building healthy, sustainable businesses for some of the best brands in the world―using the very process outlined in this book.”

―Bert Jacobs, chief executive optimist, The Life is good Company

To learn more about how we help leaders like you achieve amazing results click here.

October 31, 2022 by BJ Bueno

The Optimism Opportunity: Why Leading Brands Say Things Are Looking Bright

There are, of course, many different ways to approach trend-watching. I personally like to pay attention to what the leading top-tier organizations within the branding and marketing space think is important and see how that plays out over the course of time.

Case in point – both Pantone and Adobe opened the year by going all in on optimism. The public, they declared, was already tired of being tired and depressed – and that’s before war, increased economic stresses, and other global problems kicked in. The suggested remedy: fun, whimsy, and play.

From Pantone, this means the release of Veri Peri – a color that has carefree confidence and a joyous attitude – along with a year’s worth of optimism-based collaborations with brands like Twinings (the hue in question is actually called “Optimism”) and Canva to get a more upbeat palette used by small business owners.

Adobe, for its part, dove into the data to see what type of stock imagery was most in demand by their customers. Powerfully playful, with an undertone of gritty determination, topped the list of trends, followed by a dynamic motion and caring for the planet and self. Environmentalism and self-care are inherently optimistic, but it’s important to understand that the emphasis is on fun.

What Does This Mean For You?

Over the course of the year, we’ve seen that customers are responding positively to fun offerings from brands. McDonald’s launched Adult Happy Meals this month, only to see the offering sell out nationwide very quickly. Disney’s going all in on the immersive experience angle, offering guests two full days in the Star Wars Galactic Cruiser, during which they’re the heroes on a custom adventure replete with light saber training, sabaac lessons, and planning a smuggler’s heist. At nearly $6,000 a room, this isn’t for everyone – but the guests who are enjoying it are having the time of their lives.

Now, obviously, you might not have the budget of Disney, or even McDonald’s. But the customer hunger for fun and delight is still there. It’s time to look at your organization and say what can we be doing to make people smile?

Before you stop and say there’s absolutely nothing fun about my company and what we do, I’d like to stop and say Owens Corning to you. Building insulation is about the least entertaining product on the marketplace – and it’s made out of spun fiberglass, so you can’t even really touch it without regretting it – but they successfully developed a strong brand identity and some meaningful degree of customer loyalty via the use of the Pink Panther as a spokesperson. Is the use of a cartoon character in marketing childish? That’s a fair question, but I would ask also weren’t all of your customer’s children once?

If you’re planning on strengthening your customer relationships over the coming year, it’s a good time to think about how you’re going to integrate optimism and playfulness into your brand messaging.

At Cult Branding, we help leading companies achieve their marketing and branding goals every day. To learn more about how we can help you bring optimism to your brand click here.

October 24, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Digital Trust & Branding

If you had to guess, how many customers take into account how well they feel their personal information will be protected when making a purchase? McKinsey has done the research, and they put the number at 85%.

Data protection is just one component of what’s being called Digital Trust. Also included in this suite of customer expectations: are cybersecurity, trustworthy AI-powered products & services, and transparency surrounding AI and data usage.

Every Function Plays a Role in Creating a Trustworthy Brand

Let’s say you want your brand to be perceived as highly trustworthy. What’s involved in making that happen? Often, you’ll hear conversations focused on storytelling and the impactful nature of superior customer service. At the same time, the more nuts and bolts issues that go into running the organization each and every day are only discussed within their respective silos – IT being perhaps the prime example, with HR and purchasing following close behind.

When we don’t tell the stories of what happens within these siloed departments, we’re losing opportunities to build trust with our customers. The infrastructure of our organizations is critical to building and keeping customer trust. It’s worth considering how to include this in brand messaging effectively.

What the McKinsey study points to – I’d encourage you to read the entire piece, it’s quite excellent – is how IT issues, in particular, deserve a central role in organization-wide conversations about building trust and love with the consumer. As the public develops an increasingly sophisticated understanding of data and AI, it will be more and more important for brands to be very transparent about what they’re doing.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

October 17, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Understanding the Components of Trust: Is Objectivity Essential?

Right now, the American public trusts businesses more than they trust the government or media. Obviously, both groups are interested in rebuilding trust with the public. What’s involved in making that happen?

The Columbia Journalism Review recently hosted a panel discussion called The Objectivity Wars, which you can watch on YouTube here. The central point of discussion was the relative value of objectivity in the media – in other words, does clinging to some aspirational judgment-free standard diminish the value of the journalistic work being done? While you might not think this is relevant to your day-to-day existence as a brand manager, the larger question here applies to all organizations: are the values we’re adhering to the right ones, and does clinging to them strengthen or weaken our bond with the customer?

Ironically, perhaps, Fox News, which has at best an incredibly marginal claim on objectivity, has the largest, loyalist audience. So if the metric for success is viewership, then no, objectivity is clearly not essential for success. There are fascinating conversations being had about what the appropriate metrics are, including the inclusion of marginalized voices in national conversations and driving social change, but these two require journalism of the highest order without the pretense of objectivity.

Will rebuilding trust in the media require changing our collective understanding of the value of objectivity? I think it might. It’s a fascinating question, and I’d love to hear what you have to say about it.

October 10, 2022 by BJ Bueno

12 Reasons Why Core Values are Important

Back in 2014, I joined Life is good CEO Bert Jacobs on the main stage of the National Retail Federation’s Big Show to illuminate the powerful effects core values can have on businesses. Core values helped Life is good build a $100 Million lifestyle brand. Our talk rated the highest of all keynotes given at NRF that year and is available to watch here.

To get started let’s think about…

What Are Core Values?

Core values are part of a company’s DNA. They define what an organization stands for, highlighting an expected and ultimate set of behaviors and skills. A company’s values lie at the core of its culture. Values are fundamental, enduring, and actionable.

Driving priorities and decisions, values help determine how a company spends its time and money. The actual values of an organization are determined mainly by where it invests its resources and how its employees behave, not what the leader says or what’s posted on company walls.

When properly executed at the leadership level, core values play a fundamental role in attracting and retaining talented employees, making difficult decisions, prioritizing resources, reducing internal conflict, differentiating the brand, and attracting the right breed of customers.

Why Brands Need Core Values

Human capital is the lifeblood of today’s enterprises. Attracting top talent in a fast-changing global marketplace—and retaining them—takes more than high salaries and benefits packages. Talented people want to work in environments where they can develop and thrive. Top performers seek out organizations with values that match their own.

As a consequence, the importance of a company’s culture is becoming more apparent. Numerous research studies have highlighted that corporate culture is a primary driver for innovation.

When core values are successfully integrated into an organization, they set the foundation for its culture. Values set the climate of the workplace and help determine how success is defined and measured.

12 Reasons Core Values Are Important

Taking core values serious is a major organizational initiative. Wondering if establishing an authentic set of core values can impact your business?

Here are 12 reasons Brands should take core values seriously:

Core values can set a foundation for the organization’s culture.
Core values can improve morale and can be a rich source of individual and organizational pride.
Core values can align a large group of people around specific, idealized behaviors.
Core values can guide difficult decisions by determining priorities in advance.
Core values can help positively influence how employees interact with one another.
Core values can help you attract, hire, and retain the right type of employees.
Core values can help you assess performance (both individually and organizationally).
Core values can help prevent conflict and mitigate conflicts that do arise.
Core values can help you improve innovation.
Core values can help differentiate your brand in the minds of your customers and partners.
Core values can impact how the organization serves its customers.
Core values can help you attract the right breed of customers.

Are you looking for new ways to think about your own Core Values? Do you aspire higher?

Our firm uses Core Values to help companies attract more profitable customers. Core values play a major role in inspiring leadership and building powerful brands that resonate with employees and customers.

October 3, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Elon Musk is Building a Giant Robot Army. Are You Concerned?

If you’re the least bit interested in trust and how our ability to maintain a functional society depends on our ability to rely on other people’s willingness to abide by general cultural norms, Elon Musk provides an almost endless source of material to work with.

Whether it’s the convoluted twists and turns of his Twitter deal, making sure Tesla owners don’t upgrade their cars without permission, or downplaying the fact Starlink satellites can be hacked with $25 worth of gear, there’s plenty going on that can lead the average, everyday person wondering about the outsized role this one individual has in our culture. Social media, electric vehicles, and national security are currently somewhat subject to the whims and fancies of an individual known to be petty and capricious.

Are Geniuses Inherently Trustworthy? Just Ask Mileva

There are people who will tell you Elon Musk is a genius. And I have to tell you, they may be right. There’s a lot going on in terms of innovation, industry disruption, and, frankly, truth telling, that’s well worth paying attention to. No matter how the situation has evolved, Musk did something hugely valuable by calling Twitter’s data into question. His methodology is somewhat chaotic – but so too is the approach of the archetypal figure The Fool – the one who is willing to aim high, take great chances, and suffer failure time and time again.

The reason the Fool is so willing to boldly take chances is that the consequences of bad outcomes generally are suffered by someone other than the Fool. This willingness to externalize negative costs is something Musk has mastered as well. Scandal after scandal follows Musk’s endeavors, but he just keeps carrying on. It is possible to be rich enough to escape meaningful consequences, and Musk consistently does.

Here’s Where the Robots Come In

Now, Reuters reports, Musk is planning to build thousands of autonomous robots to work in Tesla factories. This is only the beginning, apparently, as Musk says these robots could eventually be adapted for home use, doing chores for the elderly like meal preparation, lawn care, and, of course, cleaning up after the grandkids.

What could possibly go wrong? And when it does, do you trust Elon Musk to make it right?

Maya Angelou famously said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” We are far too late for that – but it’s not too late to have the conversations so critical about trust, innovation, and society that Musk provokes. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

P.S.
I would love to be a speaker at your next event and share actionable, engaging, and unforgettable tips with your audience on creating a cult brand that customers and employees can trust. To learn more click here.

September 20, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Who Do You Love: A Look at Hot Chicken Takeover

In the course of my research into what makes customers love some brands more than others, it’s become clear that a brand’s relationship with its employees carries a significant amount of weight.

One of the reasons Publix Super Markets enjoys its dominant position in the competitive grocery industry is the positive relationship they maintain with its employees. Because the employees are well treated, well compensated, and eventually become eligible to take an ownership position in the store, they go out of their way to be nice to the customers. This, in turn, helps build love and loyalty. It’s a strategy that works very well. Showing your employees you care about them makes it easier for your employees and customers to love you back.

But sometimes, it’s hard for people to get into positions where their employers can love them. Bad life decisions can result in criminal records, bankruptcies, and homelessness – all factors that make getting a job extremely difficult.

One restaurant chain – Hot Chicken Takeover – is gaining much positive attention due to its policy of hiring men and women who need supportive employment. In addition to providing people with jobs, Hot Chicken Takeover also provides mental health referrals, connections to housing services, emergency cash, and a savings matching program. These additional benefits play a pivotal role for people transitioning into better lives – and receiving their results in a workforce that’s loyal and hard-working. Best of all, Hot Chicken Takeover customers love the restaurant for both its food and its mission.

When Harvard Business Review considered the question of whether or not businesses should hire people with criminal records, they did a good job of examining the structural inequalities currently present in this country. People of color are far more likely to be arrested and convicted of crimes than white people who commit the same offense. While many employers say they will consider hiring someone with a criminal record, the data shows these applicants receive significantly fewer callbacks and are hired very rarely.

By taking a stand and being willing to invest in the health and well-being of its workforce, Hot Chicken Takeover has done more than build a strong brand. They’ve changed hundreds of lives for the better. They’ve made it possible for people to build lives of dignity through hard work. And they’ve earned the lasting love of those employees as well as the public, who understands and appreciates the rare opportunity this restaurant provides.

Who Do You Love?

Is your organization open to hiring people who have troubled pasts? Is your brand capable of providing the type of supportive environment that allows employees to thrive and grow? Do your brand values allow for second chances? These are the type of questions that can change an organization’s future – but you have to believe in the power of love to make it work.

September 6, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Building Trust By Saying No: On Refusals, Rocket Launches, and Maintaining Goodwill

Living in this part of Florida, it’s possible to grow acclimated to things like rocket launches. There have been 34 launch attempts from Cape Canaveral this year alone! But today’s launch was supposed to be extra special.

Artemis 1 is a super important mission. It’s the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration program, which will result in humanity returning to the moon and then going even further into space.

The marketing support for this launch has been tremendous. I haven’t been able to get the actual numbers yet, but the budget for the extensive campaign must be literally sky-high. The effort that’s gone into generating excitement about this launch online, via the news media, and even in school classrooms has worked – but it’s also put a lot of performance pressure on NASA’s team.

We’ve Been Here Before

In 1986, the Challenger was launched, flew a very short time, and then exploded. This resulted in the death of the entire crew. This included teacher Christa McAuliffe, who’d been at the center of the storytelling the public was hearing about America’s future in space.

Subsequent to the disaster, analysis revealed that NASA’s oversensitivity to public opinion was one of the factors contributing to going forward with a launch that should have been delayed due to mechanical issues. In other words, having promised the public a lot, NASA felt they had to do what they could to keep that promise even though it wasn’t safe to do so.

In an effort to build trust and love with the public, NASA made a decision that damaged both severely.

Lesson Learned: You Can’t Always Give the Public What They Want. It’s More Important to Do the Right Thing

It’s easy to understand why NASA works so hard at public relations. They need the public to love and trust them, because public funding – ie governmental appropriations – is easier to get when the people actively support what you’re doing.

However, you don’t create love and trust simply by giving someone everything they want. Life is more complicated than that. As space explorers – and, perhaps more relevant to your daily life, as business leaders – we are often faced with situations where things aren’t going exactly as planned. A choice has to be made: try to fulfill expectations, even though the risk of catastrophic failure is high – or act to address the risk of catastrophic failure and manage the disappointed expectations.

NASA chose incorrectly in 1986. However, in the subsequent decades, a massive cultural change has happened. While there’s definitely still a significant amount of pressure to perform in place, the decision to take more time and do the job properly is now easier for leadership to make.

That’s what happened with this morning’s launch. Even though many governmental leaders and dignitaries – including Vice President Kamala Harris – were on hand to see the event, along with hundreds of thousands of tv and online viewers, when technical issues emerged during the pre-launch process, leadership made the decision to delay the mission.

Is this disappointing? Absolutely. Is it the right decision? In terms of building trust and love with the public, absolutely. Succumbing to public pressure is easy. Taking a stand to do the right thing – even when you’re in the global spotlight – can be difficult. But if you want people to trust you, you have to be willing to disappoint them when it’s necessary to do the right thing. Done consistently, that’s how you wind up among the stars.

August 29, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Sometimes The Giants Shoot Themselves: Wells Fargo Illustrates the Importance of Trust

As giants go, Wells Fargo was a big one. In 2008 it became a coast-to-coast super-bank with $1.4 trillion in assets and 48 million customers. From there, Wells Fargo grew to the point where it became the largest mortgage company in the country, providing one in every three home loans.

Everything should have been awesome. But it wasn’t. Things began to go catastrophically wrong, and people – Wells Fargo customers and the general public – felt like they couldn’t trust the bank any more.

Side-Eyeing the Giant: What Causes Trust to Be Lost?

In the course of my research into how customers gain and lose trust in brands, I’ve seen several companies – giants, if you will – stumble through a scandal, recover, and emerge smarter and stronger. The opportunity was there for Wells Fargo to move past an admittedly massive fake accounts problem successfully.

But that’s not what happened. Instead, during the pandemic, Wells Fargo unfairly denied hundreds of struggling homeowners loan modifications. The number of foreclosures, along with heartbreaking stories of families losing their homes, dominated the news cycle for months. The bank blamed their software, but from the public’s perspective, the giant stumbled again. When Wells Fargo had to pay 1,800 homeowners over $12 million in compensation, that made headlines too.

No Trust, No Love: What Are You Going To Do When You’re Your Only Friend?

Wells Fargo lied, cheated, and made little kids homeless. That’s a lot to come back from, particularly in terms of customer trust and love. Wells Fargo is no longer the biggest bank in the country. They’re third – and the new leadership is talking about not being tethered to past ambitions. They’re no longer interested in being #1 simply for the sake of being #1 – which is exactly the sort of sour grapes rhetoric you get from a brand that knows it’s never going to be on top again.

That being said, there’s a lot to be said for right-sizing an organization during troubled times. If you have parts of your business that carry great potential to leave you looking like a bad guy unless a number of unlikely things happen perfectly, it is a good idea to stop those parts of your business. In other words, make choices that build the trust you have with your customers.

To this end, it’s encouraging to see Wells Fargo focusing on their existing customer base and communities where their bank already has a presence. Maintaining strong relationships requires effort even when everything is great. When the boat is rocky, it’s a little harder to keep everyone on board. An increased emphasis on customer satisfaction makes a lot of sense right now.

Will Wells Fargo stabilize after shrinking – or even start to grow again?

If the answer to either of these questions is Yes, we will need to see the bank begin behaving in a way counter to its behavior for decades now. It will require radical change to bring the brand into a position where they’re both trusted and loved. But in this world, anything can happen – and I can’t wait to see what does.

What do you think? What does the future hold for Wells Fargo? What would it take, in your eyes, for the bank to become more trustworthy? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Source

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-14/wells-fargo-to-cut-back-mortgage-business-after-scandals-take-toll

August 22, 2022 by BJ Bueno

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