BP's Brand as Polluted as the Gulf

Posted by Nicole Armstrong / May 26, 2010 3:35 pm 

Nicole Armstrong | Critical Mass Calgary

Yesterday, I read the Fast Company article about the new logos Greenpeace followers have created to provide a more accurate visual representation of the brand, considering how out of place the green and yellow sunburst seems when, as the article puts it, “the defining image of the company is a dark blob spreading across the Gulf”.

This article made me immediately think – actions speak louder than words!

On BP’s site, they define themselves as:

“Helping the world meet its growing need for heat, light and mobility. And we strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure & doesn’t damage the environment“

Unfortunately, the actions associated with BP (i.e. giant plumes of oil as big as 10 miles, long 3 miles wide and 300 feet deep, including oiled smeared beaches and pelicans dyed with crude) have gone completely against the image Beyond Petroleum was trying to create for themselves. This has seriously impacted consumer perceptions. Especially in instances like this, when actions cut to the quick of consumer’s values, the outcry against brands tends to be far-reaching and irreversible. In this case it has even led to new visual cues – like an oil stained logo at left.

What’s more, this is all consumer generated content. There has even been a fake BP twitter page created: @BPGlobalPR:

This page was created less than a week ago, and it already has over 46,000 followers, nearly 8 times as many followers as BP’s official twitter page. This site is making a farce of the BP brand with tweets like:

  • It’s official, the phrase ‘All the tea in china’ has been replaced with ‘All the oil in the gulf” – Can’t wait for the royalties! #bpcares
  • If Top Kill doesn’t work, we’re just going to toss a giant ‘Get Well Soon’ card into the Gulf and hope for the best.
  • Negative people view the ocean as half empty of oil. We are dedicated to making it half full.

The consumers are beginning to reshape the BP brand – in fact they are making the BP brand as dirty as BP has made the Gulf!

It’s like I alluded to in my Semantic Web post – consumers are in control of defining the brand within the marketplace, based on that brand’s actions. And here we are seeing this happen to BP – going as far as consumers rebranding the organization themselves.

Nikki is an Associate Planner in the CM Calgary office.

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  • John Hutchings

    Hi Nichole;

    Agree, and they won’t be able to pull a top-down ‘branding’ effort to reposition themselves (in the minds of consumers) like they did back in ’07:

    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bp-has-the-power-to-make-the-gas-station-experience-a-little-better-57854417.html

    http://www.bp.com/heliospower/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=5581&contentId=7058387

  • http://angusgastle.com/blog Angus Gastle

    Hey Nicole,

    This only strengths the argument put forward by a few bloggers that BP should rebrand itself under it’s previous brand name. BP as a brand flag may be permanently damaged. Unless, by some act of god, they’re able to stop the leak and clean up all the oil.

    If that happens, consumers might be willing to cut them some slack.

    Angus

  • http://www.strengtheningbrandamerica.com Ed Burghard

    BP damaged more than its own brand. It also damaged the image of the communities involved and made it harder for them to compete for capital investment. Read about the work being done to help economic development professionals refurbish their community brands.
    http://strengtheningbrandamerica.com/blog/?p=343

  • Jackie Smith

    Not a terribly insightful analysis of the brand implications faces by BP.

    Petroleum company spills oil, environmentalists use it as an opportunity to undo the “beyond petroleum” positioning work they did over the last 10 years.

    What I find much more interesting, and would like to hear more about, is why there has been relatively little impact to their retail sales. You’d expect that with their brand image so severely tarnished, sales would have ground to a halt. So is their brand so strong, that even this can’t sideline sales? Or is there something else at work here? Perhaps the brand isn’t as important as we’re lead to believe in the petroleum sector?

    You’re the brand experts, let’s hear something deeper than what we can find in the letters section of my local student paper.

  • http://morethanalogo.blogspot.com Nicole

    Jackie – thanks for your comment.

    BP’s situation has been quite interesting. People hate what’s happening, but we’re dependent on oil. So you’re right there is something else at work here. Currently, branding isn’t as important for the petroleum sector as it is for, say, consumer packaged goods. Oil is a needs market – our entire infrastructure is built around the need for oil. But, oil will inevitably run out – this is a sunset industry. So as the supply becomes more limited and demand continues to increase, these organizations will continue to make boat loads of money no matter the reputation of the brand.

    But personally, I think this is a short-term outlook. Eventually, oil will run out and people will be forced to find other options because it will be just too expensive. And I’m fairly certain new options for more sustainable energy will come out of the wood work. Creating new competition, particularly on the commercial side of things, for consumers to choose from. So then, petroleum organizations will have to focus on their brand to become competitive and give customers a reason to buy them over the new sustainable options. Petroleum organizations who don’t think ahead and do nothing to preserve a positive brand perception will struggle immensely to earn the trust and advocacy from consumers.

    So in short, no today brand doesn’t matter as much for petroleum companies, however, I think that is a short-term way of approaching their brands, and they should be looking to the future and how they want to be positioned 50 years down the road. After all creating a strong brand doesn’t happen over night, but unfortunately it can be destroyed in that amount of time.

    I hope that helps answer some of your questions.

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