In 2020, Bloomberg and Wells Fargo developed The Way Ahead, stories designed for entrepreneurs faced with a global pandemic, driven to invent their way to survival. It featured six Wells Fargo customers across a range of industries – from Zoom, a global technology company, to The Cheesecake Factory, a national restaurant chain, to Hong Lan, a family business built on connecting Vietnamese expats to their homeland. Each posed the question: “How do we navigate our way to recovery?” Wells Fargo played a central role in the success of how each of these customers responded to the Covid-19 crisis and accelerated a transformation that strengthened their resilience and their business.

Specifically, The Way Ahead campaign sought to:

Significantly increase familiarity of Wells Fargo banking services among business decision-makers, investors and entrepreneurs

Enhance opinions about the bank and its ability to meaningfully partner with its customers.

Inspire business leaders to take action to learn more about the bank’s services.

Bloomberg Media was able to help Wells Fargo strengthen the image of its commercial division by identifying and telling some of the most compelling and uplifting stories of business pivots during the pandemic. Bloomberg partnered closely with Wells Fargo clients and leveraged insights about the bank’s C-Suite audience who were searching for solutions and innovation during a time of extreme duress and loss for both humanity and business. In doing so, Bloomberg was able to position Wells Fargos as a partner that aided in urgent and necessary transformation for business across a range of industries on every Bloomberg platform.

The campaign faced a number of obstacles to overcome, particularly given the unprecedented pandemic environment. The initial challenge was finding the best stories in an organization with more than 10,000 corporate bankers. Bloomberg Media conducted more than 50 interviews with Wells Fargo bankers to locate the stories that would have the most impact and best showcase the power of partnerships in the most challenging time. Second, these stories were appearing in the eye of the pandemic. Striking the right tone was critical. They needed to reflect the changing news cycle. Bloomberg featured both companies that had to rethink their business models in the pandemic, and those who experienced new levels of success because of it.  Despite the challenges, with the help of Bloomberg, Wells Fargo helped show their customers The Way Ahead.

Videos in the The Way Ahead campaign were viewed in their entirety more than 3 million times — 122% more views than in 2019, with no additional media spend.

According to a survey of C-suite decision makers who saw the campaign, more than 90% said it:

• Gave them a good feeling about Wells Fargo.
• Reinforced the idea that Wells Fargo is a good business partner.
• Was relevant to them.
• Was different from other ads they’ve seen for similar companies.
• Increased their interest in Wells Fargo’s Wholesale Banking services.
• Buzz about Wells Fargo — measured by the number of C-level decision makers who noticed others often talking about Wells Fargo — jumped from 66% to 89% after they saw the campaign.