The Reason: A marketers guide to engaging cliques

Countrywide CEO gives customer the finger

True story. Well, sort of. 

Here’s the deal.  A Countrywide customer struggling with mortgage payments decided to be proactive and email a few people at the company to work out a favorable payment plan.  "My number one goal is to keep my home ... I am turning to you for help," borrower Dan Bailey pleaded his case. One of the people he addressed in his email was CEO Mozilo.  This is where it gets interesting. Mozilo thought it was “disgusting,” his words not mine, that this customer was looking for help.  He wanted to share his feelings with some of his colleagues except he hit reply instead of forward.  Yup, the CEO of "America's #1 Home Loan Lender" replies to the customer instead of forwarding his feeling of “disgust” to his colleagues.

What would you do if you received this email reply? Think about that for a second. You would do exactly what Dan Bailey did.  He forwarded the email to the media and now Angelo Mozilo is being blasted for his recent e-mail snafu. 

My advice to Bank of America. Think about dropping the Countrywide name.

The Reason:

1. First, who does Mozilo think he is? Sorry the guy who is about to lose his home didn’t make $132M last year. I can’t believe Mozilo had the nerve to judge his customer this way.
2. Bank of America purchased Countrywide back in January. BOA is a good name. Countrywide, not so much. The Countrywide name can’t be leveraged for any benefit. By the way, how does that happen when you’re the 91st largest company on the Fortune 500
3. Marketing 101. A brand is a promise. That promise delivered creates trust ->loyalty ->advocacy -> profitability. When the NY Times writes an article about you, called Enron Second Coming, pretty unlikely consumers are taking you up on that promise.
   

Wachovia

So, I'm driving to work yesterday morning "switching four lanes, screaming through the sun roof money ain't a thang" listening to the Steve Harvey show and this woman from Wachovia says something about a promotion where you can earn 16% interest for the summertime. WHAT!?! I pulled up the website on my iPhone at the next light and couldn't find anything about 16%, but I did read up on their Way2Save campaign. Every time you make a purchase with the card, Wachovia moves $1 from your checking account into a savings account. I know what you're thinking. Didn't Bank of America do this already with Keep the Change? Well, yes, and Bank of America is being sued for infringing on someone else’s idea.

I commend Wachovia on their effort, especially with personal savings rates at about 1%. Helping people save and being known for it helps your brand equity. Good intention, but I disagree with the execution.

The Reason:
Most people can’t budget. A program that moves money around your accounts every time you make a purchase is going to throw you off.

Way2Save: a confusing program + undisciplined budgeting habits = bouncing checks = unhappy consumers. The same consumers Wachovia claims to help will likely feel the most pain, and that negative word of mouth will definitely hurt the program.