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#PR Lessons Learned from the #BP Oil Spill
Many of us in the PR profession were baffled when it took BP nearly a month to attack one of the most damaging oil spills in history with public relations. Even more baffling, when statements came, they lacked solutions, urgency or sincerity for the damage the company had caused. 
By dragging its heels BP broke rule no. 1 when it comes to crisis management: deal with it head-on. The company’s response has been so bad, the Huffington Post ran a story citing 5 PR nightmares handled better than BP, which positioned notorious names like Exxon Valdez and Bhopal as examples of how to do things right.
So, what can we learn from BP’s mishandling of the situation?
1. Always have a PR plan in place during a crisis. Have a strong team prepared to work together with the common goal of keeping the company together during a crisis.
2. Remember to tell your story, not have someone like Twitter’s “Leroy Stick,” who runs @BPGlobalPR, make a mockery of what your company is doing, or not doing.
3. Humanize the problem and sympathize with the public while being honest much like Johnson & Johnson’s then-CEO James Burke in 1982 with the Tylenol cyanide scare. Don’t make foot-in-mouth comments like BP CEO Tony Hayward’s, “I just want my life back.”
BP let others control the conversation and, as a result, negative media coverage and satirical PR messages from a fake Twitter account shaped public perception of the company as aloof and uncaring. As oil laps up on the Gulf Coast, the clean-up of their image may prove more difficult than that on the ground.
Do you agree? What lessons would you add?
UPDATE: This viral video, BP Spills Coffee, is making the rounds on the Internet today and perfectly underscores the absurdity of BP’s crisis response and the negative public perception that has resulted. This video and a tidal wave of social media commentary, not BP, are telling the company’s story amid the crisis. Your laughter will bring tears to your eyes, literally!
Video link:
