Wells Fargo, the financial services provider, has found that multicultural consumers have remained more supportive of its brand than the general market following a testing period for the company.

Nydia Sahagún, Well’s Fargo’s svp/segment marketing, discussed this subject at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2018 Masters of Marketing Week.

And she reported that consumer perceptions among the multicultural audience proved to be robust even as Wells Fargo has dealt with various issues and controversies.

These include opening bank accounts without customers’ knowledge, illegally repossessing the cars of service members, wrongly fining thousands of mortgage holders, and charging some clients for auto insurance they did not need.

“What I would tell you is that, in the wake of this brand crisis, we’ve actually seen far less impact with multicultural consumers than we have with the general population,” said Sahagún. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: Wells Fargo draws on multicultural strength in brand recovery.)

And the company believes this resilience can be tracked back to its long-term efforts to build bonds with multicultural consumers. “What we attribute that to is really our commitment to diversity,” she added.

Its marketing initiatives range from making native-language ads in Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish right through to championing the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities.

Beyond communications, Wells Fargo has developed several practical initiatives, too, as shown by its financial support for the American Indian/Alaska Native Communities, and pledging funds to boost Hispanic home ownership.

“Our view of [engaging] diverse and multicultural consumers is that it’s not a nice to have; it’s actually a business imperative,” Sahagún said.

“And it’s been built into the fabric of who we are for a long time. So, we have many segments that we have dedicated resources [against] that we support, we cultivate, and grow. And not all of them are cultural segments.

“But they’re important – and strategically important – to the organisation.”

Sourced from WARC