Finally Some Positive News About the Oil Spill…Smoke On The Water

We watch the news, remain hopeful, and today I hear enthusiasm on the news that major progress is being made in cleaning up the oil. Being the person I am, I like sharing positive news.

Thousands and thousands of barrels of oil are not making it to the shore line.

Allow the celebrations to begin. So, “What is the silver bullet?”

By igniting oil slicks, less oil does not reach the shore. Yes, it is a thing of beauty. Just look at the photo. Isn’t it reason to celebrate? Dark clouds of toxic smoke in lieu of oil in the Gulf. Progress! Yes, these are happy times for our environment and generations to come. Finally a break through.

Technorati Tags: oil spill,smoke on the water,silver bullet,igniting oil

Oil’s well that doesn’t end well

Anyone who has read my recent blog post knows that I have been direct in criticizing BP’s management of the oil spill. The recent plummet of their stock price, down 40% at the time of this writing, clearly supports that point of view. Given my professional background in reputation management and marketing research, I called out a number of areas where BP could have managed the situation more effectively as opposed to the apathy and callous disposition thus far demonstrated to the American Public, fisherman, workers and grieving family members who have lost loved one when the rig caught fire.

BP’s actions, or lack thereof, have led to a social media campaign associated with a boycott of BP, its subsidiaries, and partners. Just yesterday, I drove past a BP station where surrounding stations were busy and no one was pumping gas at BP. The brand symbolizes negativity in an industry already perceived as unfavorable. BP corporate only has themselves to blame.

Upon becoming aware of a social media driven boycott, my initial reaction was to strongly embrace it. Due to the wisdom of friends and in reflecting on whom it would hurt, something to think about…the independent station owner would be taking the hit and probably be run out of business. The Independents are victims and are being hosed by BP. In essence, BP’s reckless actions are destroying the small business person who carries their brand name. Perhaps one way to demonstrate protest against BP while not totally hurting the Independent, is to buy non-oil related items from the Independent.

While engineers continue to try to plug the leak, there is a great deal more that BP could be doing. A number of action items would help the situation:

• Immediately discontinue spending large amounts of money, to the tune of $50 million on a PR campaign. Redirect that money to the 11 families who lost loved ones on the exploding rig, fisherman in the region,  clean up and the independent dealers.
• Given the many unemployed people in America who want to help in the clean up, hire and train them immediately. It does not matter if they are located in Philadelphia, Chicago, or on the west coast, people are upset about the situation and want to help. Relocate this wealth of talent and it would be a rare win-win in a bad situation.
• Immediately terminate BP executive Tony Hayward of his duties. His lack of sensitivity and selfish perspective throughout the disaster has demonstrated that he is unfit to be part of this conversation. A sample of his comments include:

“There are no plumes

“I want my life back

“The likely impact of this spill disaster is likely to have been very very modest.

The crisis has enough issues surrounding it, therefore, having an executive minimizing its relevance is harmful. It is time to put people and environment ahead of insensitivity and the spread of misinformation.

Although the aforementioned ideas will not undo the adverse affects that will be with us for some three generations (this finding is supported by many credible scientists), it would put the situation in a better place than where they are today. Instead of BP management constantly reminding us that the company has deep pockets and will make it right, actually apply those resources toward the largest ecological disaster of our lifetime. Talk is cheap, action yields results.

As Riki Ott, a renowned Toxicologist has expressed,

“BP and other oil companies under estimate spill and over estimate ability to clean it. They intentionally cover it up because liability is directly tied to the amount of spillage

Since this mess is not going away anytime soon, BP this is your opportunity to step up to a messy plate and start doing the right thing. With each view of the TV spot from a $50 million PR campaign, individuals become more angry.  Pull those ads immediately and direct resources where they need to be placed. Time is of essence.

---

Beyond Petroleum Reputation Management

From a reputation management perspective, what has BP done wrong? The easier question is what have they done right…nothing.

Many so called pundits on the air waves are commenting that there is little that BP can do with respect to public perception until the oil leak is fixed. To that I say, things go wrong in business everyday and they are dealt with honestly and proactively in order to keep people informed and to manage expectations. Since the beginning of the crisis, BP has come across arrogant and untruthful. Early on, when the BP CEO implied that the Gulf slick was "nothing more than a drop in the ocean," it demonstrated a disregard for people in the region and a holier than thou attitude. Such comments set the tone for more to come.

As things progressed, BP assured the public as well as the press that the “top kill” method of pumping heavy mud into the leaking oil well to stop the leak was going as planned. It was not until several days had passed into the Memorial Day weekend holiday that there was an admission of top kill not working. Thus, the operation had been brought to a screeching halt.

At the time of this writing, the BP CEO is disputing the findings of Scientists that there are large oil plumes present below the surface of the ocean. So whom does one believe? That is simple…certainly not BP.

BP has created mistrust and a situation where anything they say is regarded as fiction. So, what could they have done?

Although the magnitude of this ecological disaster is unprecedented, huge catastrophes effecting the brand have plenty of precedent. There have been instances where lives have been lost due to spoilage of food, medication tampering, and many more similar instances. The companies that better managed these terrible circumstances did so by:

• Speaking candidly to the public.
• Even when not knowing outcomes, continually reached out with information that they did know.
• When not knowing specific answers, articulated that as being the case.
• Expressed apologies early on and meant the words spoken.
• Identified with the victims and provided updates in an ongoing manner.

With all that being said, humans do make mistakes so one would hope that as errors are made lessons are learned. Far from the case here. Just today, the latest remarks from BP leadership are particularly selfish and unfortunately consistent with past tone. Earlier the CEO of BP expressed that he wants the oil leak to come to an end in order to have his life back. That pretty much says it all and further supports why this will be the ultimate case study on what not to do in a crisis.