AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) touted the enhancements it made to its networks in the first half of 2010, noting it has poured more than $8.2 billion into its wired and wireless networ
It’s hard not to comment on the ongoing tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico and BP’s handling of the situation without feeling as though you’re piling on. However, as PR professionals, it can be an interesting exercise to consider what you would do if BP executives came to you and asked for help (for a large retainer, of course!).
BP has already begun an extensive web campaign to rehabilitate its image, purchasing search terms as “oil spill,” “gulf oil,” and a host of other keyword combinations on leading web search portals.
According to some news sources, BP is spending more than $10K per day to ensure that people searching on these terms wind up at a dedicated “learn more about how BP is helping” web presence that covers the company’s efforts to stop the leak and cope with its aftermath. On this site, you’ll see video clips on BP’s philanthropic donations (e.g. $1 million to a food bank to help those affected by the spill) and hiring of laid-off workers to clean polluted beaches.
BP’s commentary on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube reinforces -- if not glorifies -- how positive things are in the face of this tragedy.
All of these tactics, and many more that are not cited here, are fine, I suppose. BP is doing its best to control and contain media exposure for a spill that already could be five to six times greater than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
But none of these tactics can offset stories such as the one reported by The New York Times where BP offered to pay local fishermen $5,000 while asking them to sign waivers agreeing not to sue them. The company has since said that was a "misstep." You think?
Finally, on Wednesday (6/16/10), BP did what it should have done weeks ago. It caved to President Obama’s demand for a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and BP’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg apologized to the American people.
Didn’t BP learn anything from the Exxon Valdez disaster? Perhaps, that’s ancient history to BP.
How about Toyota and how it handled its PR follies earlier this year? Say what you want about Toyota hiding information, when things blew up in the company’s face, the executives there did the only thing they could: take responsibility and apologize. It didn’t take serious government intervention. And it didn’t take weeks and weeks.
Now, some may argue that the financial liability on BP is greater than Toyota. But the response should be no different. It’s the reason why Andy Pettitte, the New York Yankees’ star pitcher, gets a “hall pass” for admitted PEDs use, and Roger Clemens continues his “walk of shame.”
What would we do if we had been contacted by BP? Well, that depends on the timing (i.e. things are much different today than they were even last week) and our perception of BP’s willingness to do “the right thing,” which -- by all reports -- is highly dubious.
At the risk of being flip, we’d start by getting the best information on how BP is addressing the spill, communicating those efforts, and minimizing the spin. No self-glorification, please. No shifting of blame, please. Early in the process, we’d find someone who could credibly apologize to the American people and swear to do everything in his/her power to “fix” the incident, no matter what.
Along the way, we’d show compassion for the people affected by this disaster, then address the wildlife and environment impact. By the way, these are issues that BP has ignored or -- worse -- tried to cover up. We’d use all the communications tools at our disposal to spread the word, including the oft-overlooked mobile component.
Lastly, while advising a company facing a multi-billion-dollar liability to establish a large relief fund for those affected by a disaster that it created may seem ridiculously naïve in today’s stock-driven world, we can safely guarantee that -- in the face of another epic fail like this one -- PR firms may screw up the courage to suggest such a proactive tactic to a company’s board of directors before the government gets involved.
As we wait for a “Spill-Aid” concert date to be announced, what would you recommend?
