Wells Fargo Makes Blog History

Wells Fargo has become the first US bank to launch a corporate blog, Micro Persuasion has learned. The blog is called “Guided by History.” It is devoted exclusively to earthquake and disaster preparedness.  The launch is timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, which took place on April 18, 1906. Wells Fargo has a direct link with this historical event. They are one of the few financial institutions which helped rebuild the city after the quake and fire destroyed 490 city blocks in San Francisco.

The Wells Fargo blog includes contributions from John Stumpf, Wells Fargo's President and Chief Operating Officer. Comments are turned on with some basic ground rules. It also has some nice features such as a Technorati graph showing the number of daily blog posts that mention earthquakes plus lots of links to resources.

Wells Fargo has scored a home run with this blog in my book. They found a way to connect their history to a Higher Holy Calling (HHC) - the importance of preparing for a major disaster. Using the HHC they found a way to have a blog even though they are in a regulated industry. They are engaging in dialogue around an important issue. It's a terrific way to convey that they care about the community they serve because they also lived through one of its worst moments in history.

My only nit with the blog is that it has a short lifespan. It's only going to be up through mid-May. While the anniversary will have come and gone, disaster preparedness is an evergreen topic that Wells Fargo could continue to participate in the blogosphere. It might even help them sell more insurance. Take that to the bank.
 

(In the interest of full disclosure... the information for this blog post was supplied in advance of the March 14 launch by Ed Terpening, Wells Fargo's Blogging/RSS Project Manager. He sent me an early look at the press release and blog site. Wells Fargo is not an Edelman client.)

Technorati Tags: Corporate, Wells Fargo, Weblogs

Comments

[Dave S.]

Interesting. I can sort of see why a world renowned financial institution chose to write about earthquakes and tornados and such. They were affected by an earthquake 100 years ago. Granted, that's a bit of a stretch, but it sort of qualifies them. Oh yes, they also sell insurance (though they probably won't make that connection very obvious in their blog if they know what's good for them).

Clearly, capitalizing on the centennial anniversary of the SF earthquake/fire will get them lots of early buzz (in the blogosphere AND in traditional media channels) and drive lots of traffic to their website. That could be the biggest reason they chose this topic.

Which begs the question...does the topic of a corporation's blog necessarily have to be all about what the corporation does or can a local restaurant blog about the atrocities of war in the Middle East just because the owner's father fought in Vietnam? In other words, is it still valuable for people to say, "Hey did you read X-Corp's blog today?" even if the blog is only remotely related to what X-Corp actually does?

[Matt]

No no no, you have it all wrong. It's being launched to coincide with my birthday which is also April 18th, and well .. I'll let you and others handle the "now that was a disaster" jokes ;)

[Jim Conway]

Amazing that some readers do not recognize that WF advertising has always been about history! I'd recommend a visit to their SF museum