Wells Fargo Launches Online Magazine to Communicate with Customers

Wells Fargo launched an online magazine today.

The San Francisco-based bank has gathered stories of customer struggles and successes from across its broad customer base and social media channels into an online journal called Wells Fargo Stories. Some of the stories are customer tweets, some are videos, and others are full-fledged stories told in the style of a traditional article.

CEO John Stumpf even weighed in with a post on the new site, one of 22 pieces that were published at launch today.

The Charlotte Business Journal described the site as part of a larger trend called “brand journalism,” where a brand attempts to tell its own story rather than having others do it. Arati Randolph, senior vice president of corporate communications for Wells Fargo, said that the site will help the bank share its vision and values with the public.

It is hoped the site and its content will help the bank connect with a younger demographic more reliant on social media than traditional media sources. Wells Fargo is well aware of the importance of its image. As one of the largest stakeholders in the mortgage industry, the bank took a beating in the public sphere during the credit crisis. Those days seem like a distant memory today, with home prices once again on the rise.

The idea for the site arose from internal company communications, according to Randolph. The public relations team realized that sharing stories of customer wins could help communicate the company’s culture to customers.

The bank released a video to accompany the launch that can be seen below.