BP is a multinational company leading in international fuel and gas energy with a massive range of energy options from transportation, energy for light and heat, lubricants and petrochemical products quietly utilized in the paints and clothes industry. It is a more established company that operates in more than 80 countries with employee base numbering more than 80,000. The main BP brands include Castrol, bp, ARCO, ARAL, WildBean Café and ampm. The company operates with a minimum cashflow of $20 billion in over 20,000 retail sites and boost of 17,000 million barrels of oil reserves.
In 2010, the company spent more than $200 million to brand the company. It changed its logo and adopted the beyond petroleum slogan to signify a shift from total dependence from phospho-fuels. This played a crucial role in the performance of the company and added a competitive edge over competitors.
However the aftermath of the Persian Gulf oil spill has put the company in a tough position and displayed the lack of sufficient crisis management skills and public relation strategies. Until then, the company lacked social communication and interaction tools such as Facebook and twitter. An attempt to preserve the company reputation did not materialize and blew up after media and government scrutiny. Immediately after the spill, BP downplayed the daily spillage to a thousand barrels a day but later resurged after pressure and stated the actual approximate of about 5000 barrels. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MwruTtbb0o )
The next challenge was the swiftness with which BP failed to stop the leak. At first they had made estimate predictions for when the spill could be stopped but with time, the objective was not met. The lack of compassion is blamed as the major public relation virtue the whole process lacked. At the core of the company’s damage control prescription lies the public relation statement that no statement shall be made in relation of promise to restore property, ecology or any other thing. However its top executive appeared on a commercial ad promising the affected that they will do it right.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIS6vq0_mpk)
The ad caught the attention of many with the US President remarking that the money spent on the ad could have been used for cleanup and compensation purposes. The President and the US government declared that BP was individually responsible for the damage and should compensate the affected and clean the ecosystem. The government has ever since played an oversight role in the offshore oil and gas industry with new legislations that are meant to prevent future disasters.
In another scenario, the company lawyers engaged the fishermen with persuasions to sign promises that they will not address the journalist. This was a negative public relation exercise given the vital role that PR plays in the success of companies especially in times of crisis.
The company, however, delivered daily briefings in conjunctions with the government to update the public on the on-goings of the cleanup. At a later stage they resolved to using teleconferencing with limited ability for journalist to ask questions. This was in response with the media’s unprocedural behavior of asking questions from engineers on site.
Online site of the company displayed links to its oil-response pages which is meant to effectively serve the public inquiry and preserve the company brand from negative press. The only viable way in handling the crisis was to show responsibility, and swiftly repair the spill in order to restore public confidence. In addition, the company should have resorted to offer price cuts in areas around the Gulf coast to show financial solidarity and responsibility.
Two years after the spillage, the damage is still imminent in the Gulf coast beaches. The birds and sea habitats are extremely affected while numerous species were killed and there is low tendency of ever regaining their initial state. The same is witnessed for human recreation activities and fisher activities. The spillage was not effectively cleaned with an approximate level of 23% of the initial 225 million gallons remaining. The reputation of the company is still suffering since the time of the spillage and future contracts on oil drilling may not tilt in their direction. (http://watchdocumentary.com/watch/bp-in-deep-water-video_8dc9fa72d.html).
Works Cited
Juhasz, Antonia. Black Tide:The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Smith, Ronald D. Strategic Planning for Public Relations, Fourth Edition. Routledge, 2013.
