The thing about advertising is that even the most successful companies in the world don’t get it right every time.
Apple made a similar mistake in 1985 with this commercial, rated as one of the worst of all time:
(Warning: By watching these in their entirety you will throwing away 5-6 minutes of your life, time you will never get back again)
And I have no words for this :
Bailey has been gracious enough to take note of the criticism, thank everyone for their feedback and stated her intention to do better. This is exactly the sort of the response I would hope for from my bank.
Hey guys, thanks again for the feedback - I happen to completely agree with the preferred ‘build a bank’ sentiment.
I won’t be putting anything live immediately on Reddit but we now have a plan on how to tackle it properly next time - much appreciated!
Overall it’s important that as a team we sometimes take (intelligent) risks and accept that we are likely to sometimes (maybe often!) make mistakes. What to do with a mistake --> accept it, learn from it, share the lessons with others, then forget about it and move on
For the record. I would say that the “Your bank sucks, mine is awesome” line is something that I would totally say to my mates who are not on Monzo.
So it makes sense you took this approach on Reddit as the tone of voice of the company seems suited to it.
The only reason this turned out the way it did is because you were approaching new customers. And instead of provoking a conversation (which would have happened with friends), it provoked confrontation (which happened when approaching strangers).
There is also quite a fine line to walk on making claims like that. Being “awesome” is quite subjective so probably fine, but for example saying “Mondo is the best bank” would expose you to serious FCA/PRA issues.
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