Home / Blog article: BP’s PR Effort Needs Focus, Not Stunts
BP’s PR Effort Needs Focus, Not Stunts
June 15, 2010 | 7 Comments
BP has purchased space at the top of the Google search results, and so has a plaintiff's law firm.
An Associated Press news analysis over the weekend offered some suggestions about how BP could improve the way it’s managing the crisis from a public relations standpoint.
Although BP’s recent PR gaffes suggest it may need a hand, the view from here is that the oil giant would find itself in deeper goo if it heeds any of the recommendations the AP relayed.
Here are those suggestions, along with our comments.
Putting the CEO on oil cleanup detail
Daniel Keeney, president of a Dallas PR firm, suggested putting BP CEO Tony Hayward in a hard hat and life vest, helping crews contain and clean up the spill.
“You want to get him right in the thick of things, even if he looks somewhat uncomfortable doing it,” Keeney told the AP.
This sounds like the spillover from a brainstoming session by interns. Putting Hayward in the thick of things would be viewed as a cheap publicity stunt.
Hayward needs to be seen as the champion of doing all that can be done to fix the leak. That’s a big, serious job that leaves no time for dress-up.
Discounting the price of gas at BP stations
Richard Levick, president of Levick Strategic Communications in Washington, suggested BP could have cut gas prices at its stations along the Gulf Coast in a “show of financial solidarity,” the AP reported.
Another “creative” idea, but also likely to be viewed as a stunt. No discount would be viewed as large enough, or in force long enough, to truly show solidarity with those who have lost loved ones and livelihoods. Worse, a 50-cents-a-gallon sale could run counter to claims that BP is investing all it can to stop the leak.
Every cent should go into doing whatever can be done to fix the leak. A suspension of BP’s cash dividend for that purpose would have been much more meaningful, though potentially calamitous to BP’s tens of thousands of shareholders.
Keeping Tony Hayward in England
Former Shell chairman John Hofmeister told the AP it might have been more appropriate for BP’s senior U.S. executives to take the heat on the Louisiana spill, instead of Hayward, the Englishman who runs London-based BP.
“I think it was a mistake for Tony Hayward to come and put his physical presence in the U.S.,” Hofmeister told the AP. “The U.S. has its own culture and traditions. Foreign companies can come and do business there, but they are not necessarily welcomed.”
One of those U.S. traditions is that leaders take responsibility. If Hayward were to give way to his U.S. minions, he’d be viewed as hiding in an ivory tower in a foreign country. That would send the wrong message.
A better approach
The above suggestions aim to make BP look better, for a moment. But none support BP’s pledge to do all it can to plug the leak and address the damage.
As this crisis rages on, BP needs to be single-minded in its PR efforts. We would counsel BP, or any company living such a nightmare, to:
Stick to the message. Demonstrate how the priorities of stopping the leak and cleaning the mess are being carried out. BP’s website is indeed loaded with information and video that support its activities.
We would do more with the media to convey the scope of the response, at the leak, on the beaches, in the animal clean-up facilities and in the offices with claims. Show us that you’re doing all that can be done.
Be more forthcoming, even with unfavorable information. Two upward revisions in BP’s estimates of the volume of runaway oil suggest that earlier versions were lowballs. The stonewalling on the video of the leak also looked like hiding.
If BP trains the public to doubt its portrayals of the damage, it will have no hope of convincing us that it’s doing all it can to stop the leak.
Dan –
Absolutely agree with your take; good information, not gimmicks is what BP needs to share with the public with as much transparency as possible. Their attempt to guess a low ball leak estimate early on is still a sharp stick in their ear. If you don’t know, don’t speak. Actively seek opportunities to tell the good stuff you’re doing and admit mistakes with regrets.
Comment by Jim Cartwright — June 15, 2010 @ 2:21 pm
Wow, they do need help.
The mess is compounded by what seems to be daily PR blunders.
When this is finished (and it will take years) the whole fiasco will make a good college class and project in public relations not to mention engineering other fields.
BP is now saying they will be able to contain 50,000 barrels/day in August and 80,000/day in September. Kinda makes you wonder how much is really leaking when the high number was 40,000/day.
Then you have the story on the NBC news last night about the local who got some kind of contract with BP to provide 12,000 meals per day for workers. He supposedly took his life savings, set up a temporary facility and had got everything ready and BP backed out. Whether that’s truly how it played out or not, its reality to most who saw the story (if it is, he obviously needs a better contract attorney if he had one at all.) They had the guy on camera complaining about BP saying they are going to hire local companies to help boost the local economy “but now what.”
Like I said, an entire college PR class based around the disaster would be interesting.
Since I’m a marketing guy and not a PR guy, maybe I’d learn something
Comment by Kelley McGrath — June 15, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
Very good post, Dan. I especially agree with the “be more forthcoming” suggestion. At this point, I think being as honest as possible and simply saying “I AM SORRY” again and again will go a long way in rebuilding a level of trust that has been simply destroyed.
I also believe that any PR efforts related to saving the affected wildlife would be a bonus for their image. The photos we are seeing on a regular basis of devastated, and innocent, animals further adds to the horror of this situation.
Comment by John Gonda — June 15, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
Dan, thanks for staying connected. My comment relates to your reference to publicity stunts vs. strategy. It is interesting to me that both the White House and BP have invested in stunts, but not demonstrated any overall strategy. Obama’s comments yesterday, that even he as President is not all powerful (not sure he believes that), and that he cannot “go down there and suck it up with a straw”, shows to me how completely lost both he and BP are. It is tragic, and it seems plenty of blame to pass around. BP should cut the sentimental ads and get more coverage of all that they are working on. Feds should stop the news briefings and sound bytes and let us know what they plan to do (since the straw idea is not good)!
Comment by john willoughby — June 15, 2010 @ 4:07 pm
You’re absolutely right. Stunts and running for the hills are unbecoming of a large corporation like BP. Seeing Tony Hayward in gear beyond rolled-up sleeves is an insult to our intelligence. And for that matter, same is true with President Obama. Do you really think Americans would feel better knowing that a CEO and/or the president of the United States is working in the trenches with engineers and scientists to try to solve this problem?. Bullshit. Both BP and our federal government are not doing enough, but posing for publicity shots is not going to help that.
Both BP and the Obama administration need to get the message: If you’re getting the job done, you don’t NEED good PR.
Comment by Diane Laney Fitzpatrick — June 15, 2010 @ 11:04 pm
I’ll add one more thing that my PR-guy husband says: “Sometimes you don’t have a PR problem; sometimes you just have a problem.”
Comment by Diane Laney Fitzpatrick — June 15, 2010 @ 11:05 pm
Very true. In the Gulf, they have one whopper of a problem, don’t they?
Comment by Dan Pecchia — June 16, 2010 @ 12:52 am