Wells Fargo (WFC) bank is coming out with one of its most diverse campaigns to date.
As several small businesses have made headlines recently by rejecting lesbian and gay customers, Wells Fargo is trying to publicly embrace the LGBT community and attract their business.
On Monday, the bank will release nine different TV commercials in markets across the country, featuring a diverse range of people. One of the ads will show a lesbian couple learning sign language because they're adopting a hearing-impaired child. The ad is the first of its kind for the banking industry.
"The notion of all of these ads is really telling stories to create a sense of togetherness," said Jamie Moldafsky, chief marketing officer for Wells Fargo. She said one out of every three households in the country is a Wells Fargo customer, and the company wanted its ads to reflect the diversity of all its customers.
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Other ads will show a Hispanic truck driver and his daughter, an older African-American woman and her friends, and two others feature families of Asian descent.
"Our hope is that in doing this we can talk to our customers more and engage with them about what's important to them," Moldafsky said.
While Wells Fargo isn't the first corporate company to showcase LGBT relationships in ads, it is the first American bank to do so in a national campaign. The closest has been TD Bank, which rolled out a national campaign in 2013 in its native Canada, which featured a variety of different same-sex couples.
In the U.S., there have been ads featuring same-sex couples in commercials for Tiffany & Co. (TIF), Cheerios, Hallmark, Allstate (ALL) and others.
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Moldafsky said she's aware that some people may take issue with the ads, but the company is firm in its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
"We understand it may not resonate with everybody, but it taps into something important and universal, and is an expression of our commitment to the LGBT community at large," she said.
But the bank's new ads aren't entirely altruistic.
She also pointed out the large number of same-sex couples now raising children -- a target audience that Wells Fargo is trying to capture. Nearly 40% of same-sex couples between the ages of 22 and 55 are raising children, according to census data.
Plus, she said, the story behind the ad is universal.
"They want to be the best parents they can be," she said. "That's true of all adoptive parents."
