BP Ramps Up Its PR
BP has launched a flurry of PR ads recently, including the TV spot below and newsprint ads you can see here. The company is going with “We will get this done. We will make this right.” as the campaign slogan. According AdAge.com, BP’s lead creative agency, Ogilvy & Mather, didn’t create the print ads, and their is no confirmation of their involvement in the TV spot.
Whoever is behind the ads, I don’t envy them. But, the “We will get this done. We will make this right.” slogan seems to me to be a bad direction. Why? Because it rings false.
I don’t think there’s anyone out there who doesn’t doubt at least a little whether BP can actually “get this done.” And it’s already painfully clear that they can’t “make this right.” It’s the biggest oil spill in world history, and according to some, the damage may be irreversible. Getting it right is out of the question at this point. Let’s hope they can even get it done.
Also, maybe we’d be more heartened by the latest BP PR efforts if there wasn’t compelling allegations that they’re lowballing their estimates of the spill size—which lowers their financial obligation and government fines.
At the end of the day, this might be the biggest human-caused environmental disaster ever. It’s certainly the biggest PR disaster in BP’s history, and one I doubt they’ll be able to fully recover from.
That being said, how would you handle this if you were at the helm?
[...] Johnson drops some thoughts on BP’s PR on his agency’s [...]
This whole catastrophe with BP is ridiculous. The amount of crude oil pouring forth into the Gulf of Mexico rose by 1000s of barrels Wednesday right after an submerged droid plainly hit the containment cap that has been getting oil from BP’s Macondo well. I wonder how much devastation this entire catastrophe is going to cost the sea when it’s all over and done with