Revolt at Revolut - the dangers of brand over substance
Yesterday it was hard to pull myself away from the unfolding and escalating Twitter firestorm surrounding the start-up banking company Revolut (in the interests of transparency I have an account).
Revolut were met with a perfect storm of;
Emerging news that an alleged compromise of transaction screening last year may have made money laundering transactions harder to detect thus attracting the interest of the regulators.
The discovery of the resignation (happened in January) of the Chief Financial Officer, Peter O’Higgins.
Insider reports of a toxic work environment and aggressive recruitment tasks
A failure of the app yesterday which compromised functionality
As the day progressed there were numerous examples being posted of people being left with no means of paying for things (see footnote) but Revolut fought back with vigour, answering questions and direct messaging customers. The CEO quickly put out a blog post ‘setting the record straight’.
All has calmed down but, for a period, it looked like a good old fashioned ‘run on the bank’ was happening digitally.
Revolut will survive but there is an important lesson here - the dangers of brand and growth exceeding a products ability to match expectations. In the case of Revolut the consequences of that are much more extreme because its providing an essential service with an impact beyond any ordinary start-up who simply are ‘out of stock’ or face ‘returns’ of a sub-par item.
Technology, social media and the consumers insatiable appetite for something ‘new and fresh’ means often a start-up’s emphasis is on brand. As a brand strategist I welcome brand being given a high level of importance but it has to be firmly rooted in the product / service ability to perform.
The old adage ‘under promise and over deliver ‘ is oft repeated because it very accurately sums up the philosophy that has to underpin how a company functions.
A good product will eventually overcome a bad brand but a bad product will never last long despite great branding.
Footnote
Some of the unfortunate Revolut users yesterday found themselves in a foreign country with their virtual card inoperable. They had no alternative means of paying. It’s a stark reminder that you should always travel with an alternative means of payment, as well as some cash and, despite the wonders of a card on your phone, have a physical card with you !
