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How Does BP Rebound from the Biggest FAIL Ever?
How can one begin to dissect the PR and branding nightmare that BP faces after this, their horrendous assault on the environment, and in my opinion, the biggest FAIL in the history of fails (at least for now)? Before we talk about how this company will ever resurrect its brand from the ashes–or should we say, beached tarballs–let’s just talk about what is most troubling, from an environmental and PR standpoint combined. The BP media barrage, in excess of $50 million, has been aggressive in print and TV…arguably more aggressive than their efforts to stop the leak itself. It would seem there is a whole gaggle of communication mavens (indeed, Dick Cheney’s former spokesperson) who are trying to immediately find ways to buoy the brand…like, now. It’s troubling to see how many resources are being put into saving their image. Plain and simple: the ENTIRE company should be working on 1) stopping the leak 2) saving animals 3)evaluating the health of people helping them clean up 4) doing whatever needs to be internally to prevent a massive FAIL like this from happening again.
Now that’s out of the way. Let’s talk–like so many others–about the branding and PR implications of this oily mess. So many are saying they should “go dark” on the media messaging and posturing. I agree. Rumors are swirling about a BP breakup. I agree that’s a possibility. But after the gaffes from CEO Tony Hayward and their complete lack of focus on the singular effort of stopping oil and saving life in the water, air and land, it is clear to me what BP is going to have to do to preserve not only their image, but their very company.
There needs to be a fundamental, monumental change in the DNA of that company. Every oil-leaking day that goes by, they lose more credibility and more respect…and they don’t have much more left to lose. They need to stop saying the “right” things and start doing what is right or no amount of PR will ever help them. To survive, they need to show the world the profound impact that this catastrophe has had, at every level of the company. They need to change the company philosophy, right down to the mission statement, to refocus on protecting the environment, whenever and where ever they conduct business. They need to do something BIG–not a publicity stunt, but something that shows their seriousness on environmental issues, no matter how it impacts the bottom line. Something like…shutting down their other deep water oil rigs. (Because obviously, they haven’t created any feasible contingency plans should there be an explosion or leak on one of them.)
BP is running ads saying they “will make it right”. How? Exactly? Cleaning up isn’t making it right. And they couldn’t possibly clean up everything. The beaches are one clean-up. What about the water? How will they make right the thousands or maybe millions of fish, dolphins and other underwater creatures who will die from exposure to the oil? They can’t very well construct a big strainer to scoop up all the underwater wildlife so they can all be cleaned up. Or can they? $50 million might build a hell of a strainer.
What do you think? Can BP survive this from an image perspective?
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