Three takes on two very different crises

In a special Memorial Day edition of RepMan, I’ve asked my roving band of guest bloggers to posit their collective POVs on two very different crises: the BP nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico and Sarah, the Duchess of York (aka Fergie) and her sleazy move to sell access to her ex-hubby, Prince Andrew. I hope you’ll find their takes of interest, encourage you to post comments and wish one and all a long, happy and healthy Memorial Day weekend.

Abby Schoffman reporting from New York on BP’s Twitter nightmare

Just in case BP doesn’t have enough to deal with right now, the digital world decided to throw them something else to strategize about – @BPGlobalPR. No, this isn’t the company’s PR posse tweeting updates about the latest efforts in the top kill efforts – you can find that over on @BP_America’s stream, the company’s legitimate account.

@BPGlobalPR, on the other hand, is a humorous imposter filling the Twitterverse with a different take on the situation. The fake account was started last week and already has almost 50,000 more followers than the official BP account. Although some of the tweets are a bit vulgar, the majority of them offer some comic relief, in an “I can’t believe they just said that” kind of way. But I suppose it’s only humorous if you realize it’s not actually BP spouting out things like “A bird just stole my sandwich! You deserve everything you get, nature!!! #bpcares.”

Many people are mistaking the imposter account for BP’s real account – and they’re getting pretty worked up about it. Having people think that a company is poking fun at such a serious, self-created disaster with a satirical Twitter account could create permanent brand damage. Unlike other cases of fraudulent Twitter accounts, where they’ve been taken down, BP is letting it slide for now. According to a recent AdAge article, BP is aware of the account but realizes that people have the right to discuss their feelings about the situation.

I have mixed feeling about the account. I like that BP understands that people are going to say whatever they want about the brand, whether BP likes it or not. But if some people aren’t realizing it’s a joke, then maybe BP should step in. That doesn’t mean they have to insist the account is taken down, but they need to make it clear that the account isn’t affiliated with BP (although I’d argue that it’s already pretty clear to the majority – or at least I’d hope so).

So, is this a case of a company realizing that you can’t control everything in the realm of social media or is it that they just don’t know how to manage a crisis in the digital space?

Ann Barlow in San Francisco says BP’s full-page ads are about as effective as its oil-spill containment

We’re pinning a lot of hope on the top-kill solution, BP’s attempt to halt the seemingly inexorable flow of oil.  Meanwhile, BP’s reputation is plummeting about rapidly as the health of Gulf-area wildlife – and so far the solutions for both have been equally effective.

For instance, BP has taken out full-page ads in a number of major newspapers across the country to talk about what it’s doing and where readers can go for more information. It’s using the opportunity to reinforce its commitment to making things better, being the good corporate citizen that it is.

Too bad corporate ego, lawyers and an ability to rationalize almost anything will prevent them from saying what we all need hear. That they screwed up.  They were arrogant. They were reckless. They put the chance to make a little more money for shareholders and executives ahead of the lives of the people, animals and plants across an enormous swath of water and coastal land.

Unless and until they can do that, I’d just as soon BP put its money into mopping up the mess they made.  That’ll clean up their reputation better than any ad can. 

Of course, lucky for the oil company as well as Exxon-Mobil and others that have wreaked havoc on the environment through shortcuts, people have short memories, the media have an even shorter one, and BP has lots and lots of lawyers. We’ll move on, BP will continue to make billions, and the Gulf Coast will wonder why everyone forgot them. Maybe BP can take out full-page ads once in awhile to remind us.

London’s Carl foster on Fergie, the Royal Family’s version of an oil spill

No two crises are ever the same, not least because every individual or organization at the wrong end of a crisis has a different brand promise - the bigger the brand, the harder the fall. Take the brand promise of Sarah, The Duchess of York (to give her the official title). She is an aristocratic ex-royal; an individual from whom you would expect the highest standards of behavior. Well, it is exactly that expectation that makes a video of her accepting money from a fake businessman to 'open doors' to her ex-husband, but still close friend, Prince Andrew, the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, all the more shocking. A football agent taking bribes? Who is surprised? An ex-royal? Well, it's all terribly vulgar.

What next for Fergie? Her PR people pulled their trusty crisis manual off the shelf (and when you represent the Duchess of York it never gathers too much dust) and started following the rules. Step one: Appear contrite, put out a statement expressing regret and put your actions in context (she is broke). Step two: Line up a high profile TV appearance, such as Oprah, to get your story out (at least Oprah will be more effective for Fergie than full page newspaper ads are for BP). Next you can expect her to lay low for quite sometime, then do some staged appearances, then do some charity work, or in the case of Fergie, more charity work.

Hopefully the Duchess of York will be able to get over this reputation crisis and get back to the point where she was respected as a businesswoman and admired for her part in the most amicable divorce in Britain. A lot will depend on her PR handlers from now on.

Comments

[China Mike]

Abby,

If BP were to make any kind of announcement about that acocunt not actually being theirs I am pretty sure the subscriber list would go from 50,000 to about 5 million in 48 hours. They would do best to let it go.

[Abschoff]

Mike - Thanks for the comment. That's a good point, but I don't think BP necessarily needs to call out the fake Twitter account by name. They could just make it known that there is only one official BP account and let people know they should follow @BP_America for updates.

On the other hand, I don't think BP needs to hide the fact that there is a fake account. The number of people who know about it or follow the account doesn't matter, so long as they realize it's not associated with BP.