David and Goliath

The lizard continues updating our crisis comms book: 'Communication Strategies'
Just written up a David and Goliath case study:

Molly vs. Bank of America

Molly Katchpole, a 22-year old America graduate student got irritated over a new $5 monthly bank fee imposed by Bank of America.

Instead of just complaining to her friends, Katchpole logged on to Change.org and started an online petition urging the bank to drop the charge. In no time, more than 300,000 people had joined her campaign.

Bank of America caved in and a ripple effect meant that several other banks dropped similar charges.

When Katchpole started the petition, she says, she expected a response, but she didn't realise how instantaneous and wide-ranging it would be.

She said: "It grew so quickly I almost couldn't keep up with it. And I wasn't expecting this victory.”

Katchpole's petition page on Change.org now sports a "How We Won" letter to the site's visitors, saying:

"Hundreds of thousands of consumers joined the movement to push Bank of America, and its competitors, to eliminate its $5 debit card fee. In less than one month, Bank of America went from announcing the fee, to reeling under huge pressure from the media, Congress and Change.org. When Bank of America announced that it was restructuring the fee, we continued to push the bank until it agreed to end the fee for all customers."

Only a few years ago the options open to a young student were at best limited, perhaps a letter to the bank, which might have sent her a form letter. Now because of social media a campaign can get underway with extraordinary speed and reach.

There are many Molly Katchpoles out there and corporations ignore them at their peril.