As the BP oil spill and environmental disaster continues, I find myself having almost daily conversations with friends and colleagues involved in the intertwined worlds of marketing, PR and social media about BP. Their strategy (or apparent lack thereof) in dealing with the crises (both the environmental one and the public relations one) is one hot topic. Many professionals that I’ve discussed this with wouldn’t want to touch BP or their business with a 10-foot pole. Others, always in search of a challenge, would be psyched about the opportunity to get involved and make a difference.
AdAge is conducting a poll – you can log in via this link and take it if you’re interested. The voting ends tomorrow, so go do it now, then see how the results have changed from the results you see in the image above, which were generated when I took the poll.
One person not interested in going to work for BP any time soon – wait, make that never – is Leroy Stick, the person behind the infamous @BPGlobalPR Twitter account. In an interview with AdAge, Stick says it all: ” This isn’t a PR nightmare, it’s an actual nightmare.” And, responding to the question about who BP should hire to replace their PR department with, Stick stated, “Nobody, they should halt the entire PR operation. They should hire people like Professor Rick Steiner to come up with real, responsible solutions to this real problem. Of course their publicity is going to be bad, but if they actually fix the problem the bad press could turn into good press.”
How about you, my industry friends … would you want to go to work for BP … today? Would you welcome the opportunity to help them find solutions to help turn bad press into good press or would you rather steer clear? Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
And by the way, if you’ve not yet read this post, featuring SomaCow’s @orlandojamie and her amazing BP Parody Video, you are missing out. Go do it – NOW!
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
