Blog
05.15
Estimated Time to Read: 1 minute, 22 seconds [what’s this?]
BP goes to London to rebuild its image
In times of public crisis and image apocalypse, most companies find an adept, quirky bunch (such as us truly) to get inside immediately and promote the goodness externally, command the situation and correct perceptions.
That said, other companies really can't do that because most crisis communications professionals would stray from them like they were going to catch the bubonic plague at the mere mention of the bedeviled brand. They can't get anything right.
Take BP, for instance.
For those not in the know, there was an oil rig two years ago, a catastrophic 'DOH' moment that lasted three months and the entire ecosystem along the Gulf Coast was struck back somewhere between the 1700s and the Paleozoic era. Now that we're caught up, BP can't seem to catch a break in terms of brand repair.
Oh sure, they have created some touchy feely advertisements but I don't many people have removed them from "Public Enemy No. 1" status. Namely since photos like these have recently been released.
What's a petroleum company to do? They need Americans to love them but how? And then the light bulb sparked...
According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, BP is now in the Olympic sponsorship business.
BP's Olympic branding extends to individual London 2012 arts and cultural events, including a Shakespeare festival. Skeptics of the feel-good Olympic tie-in can seek refuge before the Games at The Comedy of Errors, which is supported by BP.
Like I said, "they can't get anything right." That is, except for side-splitting irony.
Stay classy, BP. Gold medal effort, kids.
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