Passive-aggressive branding

This post from Futurelab about the situation BP finds itself in is an excellent read about what a brand can and can’t do when it gets itself into a world of trouble, just as they have in the Gulf.  It turns out that many of the standard, by-the-book solutions for limiting damage to the corporate image, executed however perfectly, aren’t adequate to a situation of this magnitude.

Part of it is because of the sheer magnitude and uniqueness of the disaster; part of it, inextricably linked with that, is the fact it occurred in a mediascape where the prevailing meme is now far, far outside of BP’s ability to control the dialogue.  Doing things by the corporate P.R. bible is now seen as spin, as manipulation and image cleanup that’s not only out of proportion to the problem but somehow dishonest and inauthentic.

The best solution BP could possibly pursue is to become at least as invested in resolving the problem, fixing the wrongs and restoring the damage, as the groups and communities that are decrying them right now.  As the article points out, they need to be leading the news cycle, not following it.  That’s the kind of initiative that can save a brand, and a company…and not let it drown in the slick of its own failure to act.