BP Provides A Classic Case Study Of How To Screw-Up Your Brand

As many of you know, I’m a bit obsessive about branding. In my book, Branding Insights for Small Business, I cover the essential components of an effective branding strategy every successful company achieves: creating a powerful brand image, being authentic to the core values of your business and building goodwill with your customers.

It’s never easy to transcend the signal-to-noise ratio that pervades the marketplace and launch your business or product into public consciousness, and there’s that old adage, “any news is good news.”

But what if your company is responsible for the biggest natural disaster in history? That’s a life-or-death question right now at BP. As a horrified public watches images of oil-covered wildlife, ruined coastal areas and destroyed businesses, the petroleum company that once touted itself as a progressive force in environmentalism is now trying to save the tattered remnants of its corporate reputation.

When the President accuses you of “nickel and diming,” you’ve got a image nightmare on your hands

Even BP’s damage-control efforts have backfired — the company poured $50 million into an apologetic public relations campaign, then saw its efforts backfire when reports surfaced that the company was being stingy with cash compensation for people whose homes and businesses were ruined by the oil spill. Even President Obama even got involved, accusing BP of “nickel and diming the folks down here.”

Of course, few of us are multinational executives, who run  corporations operations with such far-reaching consequences. But BP’s missteps provide lessons we can all learn from:

BP spent millions advertising itself as an eco-friendly company, but had three of the largest and deadliest oil-related accidents in the past five years.

- Don’t just say you stand for something — actually STAND something. In the words of a brand strategist who wrote an op-ed for Fast Company: “Pretty logos mean nothing if your actions don’t back up what you say.” Before the oil spill, BP did a great job of positioning itself as an eco-friendly company, but as Fast Company notes, “BP has had three of the largest and deadliest oil-related accidents of the past five years.” That fact has been hammered home as repeated efforts to stop the spill have failed.

- Don’t say anything stupid. This sounds like common sense, but with an army of handlers and highly-paid public relations experts, BP’s chief executive still managed to put his foot in his mouth several times since the disaster. While BP’s share prices dropped by 30 percent and investors lost millions, CEO Tony Hayward complained, “I’d like my life back.” Earlier, he asked a New York Times reporter, “What the hell did we do to deserve this?” Sorry Tony, but when wildlife is dying and people are losing their livelihood by the thousands, people are not going to take pity on a guy who banks $8 million a year — they’re just going to get angry.

- Don’t understate things — be honest. Again, courtesy of Hayward: “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount and volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.” That’s a bit like saying Katrina “only” flattened one city. And it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in oil containment efforts when the guy in charge apparently slept through his geography class.

Those are three “don’ts,” but what about the things BP should do?

That’s pretty simple — walk the talk. As I mention in my book, it’s important that your brand is built on authentic core values of the business. And these values need to permeate down to every department and employee so they know exactly what the business stands for and the promise it makes to its customers.

When BP spent millions rebranding itself as a “green” corporation a decade ago, environmental groups pointed out the company had spent more money on its image than it did on renewable energy resources. And as the story unfolds before us, it’s become obvious BP never took its responsibilities seriously beyond appearance. This is a mistake many companies make with their brand efforts: they superficially believe a marketing slogan and ad campaign will define what their company stands for. And they believe employees, shareholders and customers will simply buy into that myth. But if rumors that BP circumvented safety protocols in its deep water drilling are true, then the public backlash could be passionate and intense.

A great PR team is an essential component to any brand emergency, but it’s just as important to remember public relations is only half the battle — if a company’s actions don’t support its brand image, sooner or later that fact will be exposed, and the results could be catastrophic. Just ask Arthur Andersen.

Many have heard the marketing term U.S.P. or Unique Selling Proposition, but I would wager most don’t have a clue to its inherent value when marketing your business.

The term Unique Selling Proposition was originally developed in the 1940s by marketing guru Rosser Reeves, which he defined as the ability to communicate a distinct and unique benefit a product offers a consumer which only that specific product or service or brand can provide.

Business owners, often just assume their customers will understand what makes their business different or better than the competitors, and overlook the USP. When carefully nurtured, however, an U.S.P. will provide your company a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Rosser Reeves maintained an effective U.S.P. needed to accomplish the following four objectives:

1. It must make a specific proposition to the customer: “buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.”
2. The proposition must be unique or “perceived unique” by your customers – something your competitors don’t have or offer and would not be able to imitate easily.
3. It should be so compelling and relevant to your ideal customers that it entices them to try your product or service because it addresses their needs, fears, frustrations, or desires.
4. It must be simple and easy to articulate and communicate so your customers quickly understand that your product or service offers them unique benefits.

An excellent example of an effective USP is the famous “Got Milk.” The campaign repositioned milk, a universal staple in practically all households which had been maligned as an unhealthy, antibiotics-filled food to avoid, to the opposite: comforting scenarios of milk and cookies, as well as a nutritional drink appropriate at anytime.

The campaign stuck in the customer’s minds and was carried into the grocery store aisles while milk consumption rose dramatically. Genius!

The fact that the campaign fostered numerous copycats with Got Fish? Got Fleas? and Got Freud? only added to effectiveness of the original USP. Even President Obama’s campaign slogan of “Got Hope” mimics the original.

A strong USP (or lack thereof) for your business can be the driving force behind the success and failure. Is that really something you want to leave up to assumption? To occur haphazardly? Or instead, will you take a proactive, deliberate approach ensuring correct positioning of your product or service exactly where it needs to be for future success.

Some marketing professionals are saying the traditional role of Public Relations has lost some of luster, overtaken by a more contemporary form of PR – social media. Marketing forums and group discussions from Inc.com to LinkedIn have all been debating this issue But as far as I am concerned, traditional public relations, i.e. press releases, articles, events, etc. will never play a secondary marketing role for most businesses, especially ones that have a brand image that needs to be nurtured and protected.

Social media plays an important role in marketing, but most times it is one that is supporting more traditional marketing and public relations activities.

For example, if a neighborhood restaurant donates a percentage of sales to the local high school marching band, who benefits? Pretty much everyone. The students, the band, the school and the parents, who have to shell out less for the activity. But the hero is the neighborhood restaurant. If they can leverage their generosity with an effective public relations program, it can generate loads of press exposure and tons of goodwill with consumers. Goodwill that can generate ten-fold payback of the actual donation cost.

Could social media pulled this event off as effectively alone? Probably not. Outreach to mass media outlets traditional PR is the marketing tool that does the heavy lifting in generating the kind of media buzz – one that I’ve only seen achievable through PR. Social media can certainly play a role in building awareness to those who are already fans of your business. But most editors and reporters are much too busy to activity monitoring more that a few Social Media channels. They are still looking to their normal PR channels for news worthy items to feature.

In the era of Google, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, there is still irrefutable value in the good old fashioned card. Business cards, arguably one of the oldest and most important marketing tools, have been in the marketing news as of late and deserve our attention, as well they should. The business card is an essential part of your marketing strategy and should never be overlooked.

MSNBC has recently been quoted to say business cards are becoming obsolete, being replaced with complete profiles on LinkedIn and digital cards with mobile applications. Some believe this is necessary new technology, but I’m not quite convinced. Don’t overlook your business card as part of your overall marketing strategy as it plays a key role in your business image.

I am confident technology will never replace the business card as the first brand representation of yourself, other than your physical being. In many situations, business cards are the first presentation of your brand image other than your physical being. Inc.com did a story on creative, innovative, business cards, but there is no need to be that extravagant. Your card needs to carry the necessary information so a prospective client can easily contact you.

Don’t chintz on developing a quality business card—use a quality, heavyweight cardstock. Consider hiring a graphic designer. Are the business card elements consistent with your company brand image? Is your  logo and slogan included along with all your phone numbers, address, email and other pertinent information? Don’t underestimate your business card, this marketing tool has power: the power to sell your brand — how you want others to perceive you.

As antiquated as it may seem, sharing a quality business card is also a remembrance of a more civil time, pre-DUB era. (DUB is the abbreviation of DubMeNow, an electronic business card application said to be replacing physical business cards.)

A personable time when face-to-face contact concluded with, “Do you have a card?” And how nice it is that this has endured.

The end of 2009 brought the end of the commuter New York Water Taxi that ferried commuters down the Hudson from Yonkers City Pier to Manhattan, docking at the World Financial Center and Wall Street, and last summer, mid-town too.

Hailed as both a tourist draw and a comfortable and believe-it-or-not, “cozy” alternative to being stuck bumper-to-bumper on the Hutch, Sawmill, 95 or pavement or rail of choice, this little-known service had been hailed by commuters, one going so far to say, “It cradles you in the morning and comforts you in the evening.”

Wait just one marketing-minute. With the cost comparable ($10 more per 10-trip vs. MetroNorth), and the trip calm, pleasant and conversational – even for New Yorkers – then what’s up? What went wrong?

Simple. Nobody knew. And you can’t sell a good thing if no-one knows about it.

Operational since May 2007 with initially four morning runs from Yonkers to World Financial District, but this year down to two, the service averaged about 75 riders daily during the summer, and 90 in the fall.  In April 2008, the one-day fare was lowered to $10, and ridership increased 40 percent – that day. According to company spokesman, ridership peaked at 3,650 in July 2008.

Last summer, NYC and parent company New York Water Taxi added a midtown Manhattan stop, with free connector shuttle bus service.  At the time, officials said they planned a geared up, major marketing campaign, going so far to claim: “some unconventional ways, guerilla marketing,” according to David Simpson, spokesman for Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone.

Excuse me? What was the plan: ESP?

The campaign was to include television and internet marketing, drive-time radio spots, direct mail and direct outreach to big time Manhattan corporations with high percentage of Westchester-ites trekking into NYC daily. What happened?

Seeing that I live here, work here and there and everywhere, and am, it’s been said, “in-the-know” marketing wise, I hadn’t heard or seen sight or sound of the ferry. Nada. Nothing. Not a banner ad. Not a tweet. Not a billboard. Nothing shoved under my windshield wiper at the commuter lot. NOTHING.

If you market the pants off the service and it flops, well, then you’ve got nothing to sell. But this was (and remains) a viable, marketable, cost-efficient, environmentally and tourist-friendly unique service. How about sharing that information with the market anxiously awaiting it?

Recently, I was looking to get some work done on my house. Google all you want, but reputation is the only reason people buy — or don’t buy — anything. Ever.

It doesn’t really matter what a company says about itself; it’s what the customers say about the company. And when customers have good things to say, that alone will sell to other customers.

The contractor that caught my eye had a customer letter posted on their website. As a business owner, I know if a client takes the time to write a glowing letter filled with specifics, the company has to deliver. This testimonial had details on the day-to-day expectations, the quality of work, and the timeline. A bit skeptical, I asked for another testimonial. This, too, was a glowing review of recent work the company had done. These former customers were very appreciative and it showed.

From testimonials, I learned this company over-delivered, going above and beyond what was expected. They even did things that didn’t make additional money: like cleaning up each evening and taking home their own garbage. One customer wrote that they even brought their garbage cans to the curb! They just thought it was important to do to keep their customers happy and writing rave reviews.

The competition I had considered also had testimonials, but they were one or two sentences with no details, consisting of “they did a good job” and “very professional,” with a five-star rating attached. Ultimately, I went with the company with testimonials that didn’t look like generic, eBay feedback.

That’s what potential customers are looking for: in-depth, non-canned, honest testimonials. Get that and your reputation will do the rest.

JetBlue is getting very, very friendly!

JetBlue, long considered the social media maven with nearly 1.5 million followers on Twitter…but what’s this? A measly 60k on Facebook??? This can’t be! So what’s the popular airline kid to do when they have no friends?

Easy, bribe them!

JetBlue is doing just so, and dang it, everyone is wishing they did it first, but will undoubtedly follow suit. Sooner rather than later, but we, the wannabes frantically friending JetBlue will end up the winners regardless.

Here’s the deal: JetBlue Facebook wants more friends, and to get them, they’re offering a carefully engineered campaign to add more – a lot more, quickly and with as much PR as possible.

A fan focused campaign, named buffet-style All-You-Can-Jet Fan Sweepstakes thrives on the age old gimmick of FREE STUFF. What’s old is new again!

Become a facebook fan and you can win free round-trip tickets, comped airfaire and a vacation for you and — get this — three friends for 5 days and 4 nights. Or, the grand prize of unlimited free travel on JetBlue for a year. A YEAR!

Simple and easy: a marketing dream come true. Become a fan of JetBlue and submit a ballot via the JetBlue Sweeps Page tab (read more).

JetBlue gets the friends they’re looking for, and we get the chance to dream a little dream of traveling on someone else’s dime.

Hey, that’s what friends are for, right? (Up to 73k at this posting…and counting!)

To talk or not to talk? That is the question, but with nothing but dodging from Florida, the blogosphere is more than happy to answer.

While Tiger maintains his silence, or his roundabout explanation that fuels guilt and scandal yet explains nothing, has this mega-superceleb squeaky clean sure thing fallen like … like … Kobe and Phelps and Serena and Michael Vick and Britney and Chris Brown and Kanye and … and … well, you get the drift.

Celebrity endorsements mean a big cha-ching for product placement and sales. Celebrities are a brand onto themselves, as corporations are quick to scoop up the good ol’ boys and girls to be their shining star. But who calculates the missteps? What is the cost of damage control — the necessary clean ups in Aisle Life – when the star crashes to earth?  Or into the neighbor’s tree?

Tiger screwed up (or perhaps he didn’t). We don’t know how or why or when or what, but his silence is deafening. And the corporate bigwigs are squirming big time. Buick, Nike, Gatorade, Gillette, TAG Heuer, Accenture, AT&T.  Is this fixable? What’s it going to cost?  What’s plan B for when the best and brightest prove to be all too human? The brands Tiger represents are now running through the “what if” scenarios, praying for a minor character flaw and not a shock and awe to their brand image.

Sure, celebs of yesteryear were only human too. But that was before Twitter, Facebook, TMZ, MySpace, breaking news all night and all day, and with a buzz of a CNN update, dirty laundry is spilled for all to see.

Speak now, Dear Mr. Clean, or others will speak for you. The blogosphere is erupting. If Tiger doesn’t talk, others put words into his mouth and ergo, the mouths of his sponsors. And the many, many customers are just waiting and listening, wallets in hand.

Every business needs a website. Plain and simple. It’s a brave new world out there, and if you don’t have a website, you’re not living, playing, and you certainly are not working in it.

I don’t care if you’re walking dogs or designing aerospace navigation, your website is window-shopping for any prospective client, employee, or employer. You can hand out business cards and cold call all day long, but few will consider you without a website.

A website makes you legit. Even if you’re just starting out and working out of the trunk of your car, a website is arguably marketing’s best tool in communicating your message. Some basic information your website should provide is who you are; what you do; why you do it; and why you’re best at it! It should provide a number of ways a prospect can contact you.

If you can’t afford to have custom website built for your business, there are inexpensive alternatives to utilize. For example when you register a domain name, at register.com or other domain registration websites, you can choose a pre-coded and formatted website template for a small monthly fee. You must provide text and images, and choices may be limited, but you will now have a site to direct customers and inquiries too. Don’t expect your website to end up on the first page of Google! Most templates don’t include search engine optimization that rank your website to appear first and foremost.

When ready to take your website to the next level of sophistication by including e-commerce, search engine optimization, or redesigning and reworking content, InSight Marketing is well-positioned to make that happen for you.

There’s a guy named Scott Ginsberg and I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him, but he has his website called HelloMyNameIsScott.com and for the past 2,900+ days, he’s worn a nametag. Which means, he’s been wearing a nametag everyday for the past 8 years. Scott wears his nametag every single day no matter where he is going. If he’s doing laundry, he’s wearing the nametag that says, “Hello, my name is Scott”.

His story is very interesting and at some point he even got a tattoo where his nametag would be – presumably to take care of days at the beach. That’s Scott’s “thing”. There is no question that Scott is at the very center of his brand.

And, being at the center of your brand gives you a level of differentiation that’s hard for your market to ignore.

Scott happens to help companies make their brands more approachable to their markets – so it makes sense that his “calling card” would be a nametag. It works perfectly for him. He’s done a good job with that.

But, what about you? What if you’re the center of your brand and you don’t want that dynamic anymore? You’ve found yourself being the Scott Ginsberg, the Dr. Phil, the Madonna of your brand you’re sorry you developed your brand in that way.

You want to be able to take a break.  You want to sell the company.  You are’re interested anymore.  You have had a nervous breakdown. Whatever the case, you want out. What do you do?

Well, you think, “that’s tough”.  You think it’d be hard to do for the obvious reason – YOU are the brand.

Let’s look at Martha Stewart. Let’s say, for example, that she wants to sell her company. I believe she might make out BETTER than if the brand was NOT centered around her as THE brand’s personality. Look at it from a marketing standpoint: there wouldn’t be a Martha Stewart satellite radio station, cooking show, magazine, retail lines – without Martha Stewart being at the forefront.

She has also created a meaning behind the brand – well, her marketing people have. When you know something is made by Martha Stewart’s company, that means certain things – quality, fair price, equality – and those things aren’t really about her personally. It’s become what the brand means to consumers.

So, if YOU are the brand, there might not be so much to worry about. Just make sure the brand MEANS something aside from you so that when you exit, you don’t take the brand with you.