Posts Tagged ‘Oil Spill’

1. When sorry is too little too late

   Published on Friday, October 14th, 2011
   It was an outrage, but there was an apology.

   A “stupid thing” had been done and it was now deeply regretted.

   An All Black had gone out drinking (and smoking).  Fortunate for Cory Jane, he played a blinder and the match was won.

   The second apology of the week came from Costamare Shipping Company managing director Diamantis Manos.  His company owns the Rena which is causing a black tide of another type. Yesterday he apologised by video to Tauranga residents and New Zealanders for the “disastrous event”.

   Perhaps his advisers told him that New Zealanders like and accept apologies, as we’ve had a “sorries” from a veritable catalogue of high-profile offenders from current and former All Blacks, and sports commentators, to MPs and church leaders.  Sorry has become the get-out-of-jail-free card.  But not this time, not from owners and managers of the ship that is violating the Bay of Plenty.  It came too late and from too far away.

   There are times when you have to front up in person, and this is one of them.

2. How you respond is a measure of your mettle

   Published on Friday, July 30th, 2010
   He didn’t get it then, and he doesn’t get it now. “Then” was when he fronted up to the affected communities, the media, and politicians over the Gulf oil spill disaster; and “he” is former BP chief Tony Hayward.

   It is almost beyond comprehension that he would say, when exiting the top job, “Life isn’t fair”.

   How could a person with the experience and credentials to lead Britain’s biggest industrial company think such a thing, let alone say it!  It’s apparent he’s been insulated all his life from the world where most of us live…because we all know life’s not always fair. That’s a given; it’s how you respond that is a measure of your mettle. 

   Yes, he did admit making mistakes, and stated that it (managing the disaster) had not been a great PR success (if he was honest he would’ve have admitted it was a disaster).  But patently he learned nothing from the grueling experience of the past 101 days; and he has absolutely no empathy for those who lost their lives on the rig and their grieving families, for people whose lives and dreams have been shattered by the spill, for the havoc wreaked on the environment.

   A primary rule of managing the media is: know what you are going to say. Did he? It’s hard to believe.

   No, life is not fair when a person like Tony Hayward can walk away with a £1 million lump sum, and a pension of £600,000 a year!

   I expect you agree, life’s just not fair.

3. All associated with the BP oil spill are acting incomprehensibly

   Published on Friday, June 18th, 2010
   From a communication perspective, it’s impossible to make sense of what is taking place with the BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico.

   The BBC describes the issue as a ‘PR disaster’ for BP while international financial analysts talk about it undermining the competitive advantage of the world’s 5th largest company ‘into the foreseeable future’.

   It’s inconceivable that BP is not employing the best PR professionals in the business, so why on a daily basis are they staggering from one communications blunder to another? Why is there no belief BP has answers? Why the apparent indifference to its corporate reputation?

   For all his ‘tough talk’, President Obama is struggling. Political commentators from the left, middle and right are calling his performance inadequate and lacking leadership.

   Even American media is questioning why the American administration is not putting its national resources into working alongside BP to minimise the damage being done to people’s lives and the environment; why an administration that poured unlimited money into the American banking system during the financial meltdown is now insisting that it’s ‘BP’s problem to fix’.

   Perhaps it’s all about money. Remember, while Exxon was ordered to pay billions in compensation for the Exxon Valdez spill, American courts eventually capped the payout to $500,000 because ‘it was an accident’.

   Could it be that BP is gaming the US administration, with the lawyers running a strategy based around taking the heat on corporate reputation in the short term while preparing for the inevitable 15 to 20 years of litigation in the American courts as claimants try to get their hands on the $20 billion in the compensation fund.

   Given BP’s actions to date, it certainly hard to believe it’s the communications people that are in charge of strategy.
    
   As for President Obama, he may well be the ultimate loser if this adds to the belief that he is a talker rather than doer.

   Postscript. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is not the world’s largest – not yet anyway. That dubious honour is vied for by the 1910 Lakeview Gusher (USA) and the 1991 Gulf War. To take the number one spot the BP spill needs to eclipse 9 to 11 billion barrels.