Poor Bank of America. Six years ago it scooped up mortgage-battered Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch at bargain prices. It’s been paying ever since. Including last week’s deal with the U.S. Justice Department, the cost to BofA shareholders from regulatory settlements tops $50 billion. That figure doesn’t count the damage to the BofA brand, which […]
You know your company is in trouble when the chief marketing officer gets more press than the CEO. And it’s in really, really deep trouble when the CMO is seen distancing herself from the company’s strategic blunders. That’s what we saw over the weekend in the New York Times piece on Anne Finucane, “chief image […]
The new ad campaign unveiled this week by Bank of America faces an uphill battle to restore the bank’s battered reputation. Advertising alone can’t do the job, really. For the message to stick, it will take a coordinated effort across many communication channels (see a related post here). More important, a lasting improvement in the […]
Bank of America’s shot at Henry Blodget is a measure of how influential the blogosphere has now become in the financial markets. It’s also a reminder of the pitfalls of taking on critics publicly in any forum. For every company that has seen its stock price plummet, the scene within BofA is a familiar one: […]