Comments on: Bank of America and Cause related Marketing

By: pat hulburd

pat hulburd — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:45:12 +0000

I got this email the other day and I think the Marketing folks at B of A should be made aware of it! It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those of us that play by the rules.
STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE U.S.A.
A conversation between a Customer and Bank of America
(true story):
Bank: This is the Bank of America, can I help you?
Customer: Yes, I want to cancel my account. I don’t
want to do business with you any longer.
Bank: Why?
Customer: You’re giving credit to illegal immigrants and I don’t think it’s right. I’m taking my business elsewhere.
Bank: Well, Mr. Customer, we don’t want to see you do that, but we can’t stop you. I’ll help you close the account. What is your account number?
Customer: (gives account number)
Bank: For security purposes and for your protection, can you please give me the last four digits of your social security number?
Customer: No.
Bank: Mr. Customer, I need to verify your information, but in order to help you, I’ll need verification of who you are.
Customer: Why should I give you my social security number? The reason I’m closing my account is that your bank is issuing credit cards to illegal
immigrants who don’t have social security numbers.
You are targeting that audience and want their business. Let’s say I’m an illegal immigrant and you’ve given me a credit card. I have a question about
it and call for assistance. You wouldn’t be asking me for a Social Security number, would you?
Bank: No sir, I wouldn’t.
Customer: Why not?
Bank: Because you would have pressed ’2′ to speak in Spanish. We don’t ask for that information when calling in on the Spanish line.
CHECK THIS OUT ON SNOPES! IT’S TRUE!

By: R Craig Lefebvre

R Craig Lefebvre — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:26:48 +0000

Have to agree that your headline got it right (cause related marekting) and this is distinctly different from social marketing – it is not a question of nuance or emphasis. Social marketers look at ways to enable groups of people to change behvaiors for individual and social benefit. In the B of A ad (disclosure, I am a customer) there is clearly no link to any behaviors. If, as AMEX did in the seminal CRM program for refurbishing the Statue of Liberty, B of A had asked for donations to the other organization, it would STILL be CRM. The idea that it is brand-building is likely correct in my view. Now if B of A were offering to the renters and owners of these buildings support for improving their financial literacy and stability, saving on home insurance by offering low cost loans for home safety improvements, etc maybe then we’ve got a SM program started.

By: Nick Aster

Nick Aster — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 04:41:29 +0000

Yo Fred – excellent observation, but I don’t think it really counts as “social marketing” unless the bank were actively trying to rally money to support that specific issue, rather than just aligning itself with the issue as a way of showing how great the bank is.
Even then, I’m not sure it would count by the classic definition. I think this is more about using social issues to promote a brand.