Is BP’s Reputation Sinking?
Earlier this week I attended a conference in which one of the speakers was describing the corporate reputations of various firms and industries. Her message was largely about how advertising campaigns and, more recently, effective management of social media can tremendously influence the public’s perception – for the better and for the worse. This conclusion itself was not particularly surprising, but when paired with a particular example, it really got my attention. The story the speaker shared described the changes in British Petroleum’s (BP) reputation over the years.
You may be familiar with BP’s most recent advertising campaign in which, following a merger with Amoco, the firm was attempting to reinvent itself as a socially conscious company. BP used its acronym as a play on words suggesting that the newly formed company was ‘beyond petroleum’ and provided examples of the various ways in which it was going green. In fact, BP was the first oil company in the industry to suggest a link between energy use and global warming. The investments in advertising and marketing itself in this way seemed to pay off. Sales for the company rose from $192 billion in 2004 to $266 billion in 2006. In addition, BP was awarded the gold Effie by the American Marketing Association in 2007, and between 2000 and 2007, brand awareness for the firm rose from 4% to 67%. On the flip side, the campaign has also been heavily criticized as greenwashing, and accused of not having credible practices in place to support its green rhetoric. That said, the campaign seemed to have worked in terms of positively influencing public perceptions of the oil giant.
Going back to the speaker’s comments, what surprised me the most in her data was the extent to which BP has been able to sustain a positive reputation despite tremendous negative publicity regarding several recent tragic accidents. Prior to the current oil spill in the gulf, one the most horrific crisis was the explosion at one of BP’s Texas refineries. Like the fiery explosion of the platform in the gulf, many people lost their lives and numerous others sustained severe injuries in the refinery crisis as well. Pictures of the inferno peppered the local and national news for days following the event and the lawsuits were numerous. Despite there being considerable evidence suggesting that internal processes and procedures contributed significantly to the explosion and the loss of life, BP’s reputation as one of the top companies in the oil industry rebounded fairly quickly. The company took to the airwaves with its advertising campaign emphasizing social and environmental responsibility and in no time the refinery explosion seemed to have been supplanted in the public’s mind by the ‘beyond petroleum’ mantra.
Time will tell whether a similar reputational rebound will occur following this most recent tragedy; one that has not only resulted in loss of life, but loss in the ability to make a living by so many in the gulf coast region who depended on the gulf’s natural resources. I suspect the return to reputational preeminence in the oil industry will be a bit harder to achieve this time around given that the crisis is directly linked to what BP has prided itself on – environmental protection and responsibility, but the public can be fickle and effective used of marketing and social media has proven to be a powerful influence in the past.
June 18th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
“On Monday, British Petroleum promised to pay all necessary cleanup costs for this oil spill. And they said they will do it, no matter how much they have to raise gas prices.” —Jay Leno
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:51 pm
This whole oil crisis is a shame. I wish BP gave a crap about the disaster.