Can Oil and Public Relations mix?

A crisis of enormous propotion is on display in the Gulf of Mexico. On Sunday, President Obama called it a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster," and said the spill "is unique and unprecedented."

A  spokesman for BP, the company with the strong environmental brand (BP had long waved the green flag, ‘Beyond Petroleum,’ before it became the  positioning du jour for corporations) who claimed responsibility for the spill  also called it "unprecedented," saying "it's something that we have not experienced before."

The magnitude of the oil spill affecting lives and livelihood may be unprecedented but was it unpredictable? Not quite. There are  some industries (and the oil and gas sector is one ) that  should conduct  their business  as if they have   loaded gun pointed squarely at the centre of their  operations and should plan, rethink and plan again for every possible scenario including an oil spill that seems to be unprecedented.

 In this Ad Age article that attacks how BP handled the crisis (thanks Patrick Johnstone of Publicis Caribbean for sending  me the link), some of the key points raised by Edelman’s  U.S. director of crisis and issues management, Harlan Loeb,  include the lethargic response of the global giant.

According to Loeb:

1) BP is a very centralized company, which tends to result in a non-efficient and non-comprehensive decision-making process when a crisis strikes.

2) BP has lacked a visible presence in the news cycle since the crisis unfolded. 

3) No contingency plan (as of the day of the article's  publication )  had been sent to the governor of Louisiana from BP.

4) The company’s messaging was off and should have been more focused on what a challenge it was and how they were actively working with the government, Coast Guard and the Navy rather than the statements from their chief operating officer and others that basically said, 'We can't handle this.”

5) It took the company seven days to send their first tweet.

6) BP spent millions on a lofty marketing communications campaign that is based on  a small, popular part of their overall energy portfolio for the sake of their image. 

Experts say this spill has the  potential to be worse of an environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez in terms because the marshlands of the Mississippi delta are home to numerous species of threatened and endangered birds and other animals. 

In oil industry you are what you leak and while PR cannot stop the flow of oil, I’ve sat in enough crisis meetings during a drilling period to know unprecedented does not equate with  unpredictable. And unforseen does not mean you can’t plan for it. 

Come now BP, this is just not the time to falter.