Accidents happen.
We live in a contingent universe so anything is possible.
The president of the United States is not omnipotent.
The CEO of BP is not omnipotent.
People are human and humans have limitations.
Corporations have limitations.
Governments have limitations.
Given the above premises, what are we to make of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? What marketing lessons can we learn from such a tragic disaster? Is there a marketing context in which we can place the BP oil spill, plus apply a tool chest of analysis, learning, crisis management, and public relations? The answer is yes–a big yes.
First, accidents happen. That’s part of being fallible humans. And, nature also has its limitations. We cannot control forces far more powerful than any product humans produce. Just because airliners crash, does that mean we stop building commercial jets? Just because auto accidents are the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., does that mean we all start riding bikes? Just because more people die from falling than gun accidents (just Google, “Leading causes of accidental death in the U.S.,” for the fascinating statistics), does that mean we all take sponge baths and that law abiding citizens cannot buy guns? Just because Toyota had acceleration problems, does that mean you only buy American made cars? No. The simple reality is that accidents do indeed happen. It comes with the territory of choice and forces beyond our control. God does not trip over himself; humans do. Face it. Live with it. Get over it. Period.
Second, any good marketing plan applies contingencies and backups. Because we are human we must plan for the best and the worst. If we are negligent, and there are some indications some may have dropped the BP ball, then there is all the more reason to plan ahead. In the case of the BP oil spill, both BP and the Federal government have learned lessons for the future. Ask yourself the question, “What can I learn from this disaster?” How can you plan ahead to make your business insulated from future disasters?
Third, make sure to think context. The BP oil spill is by no means the largest oil spill on recent record, especially on a percentage basis. In fact, it is now roughly the 4th largest oil spill ever. Below is a list of 3 major oil spills that are currently larger than BP:
- Lakeview, California gusher in 1910,11 (U.S. Gallons: 378,840,000).
- The 1991 Gulf War oil spill (U.S. Gallons: 231,000,000–462,000,000).
- The Mexican Gulf Ixtoc in 1979, 80 (U.S. Gallons: 139,818,000–147,840,000).
- The current BP Deepwater Horizon (U.S. Gallons: 116,000,000-256,200,000).
There are serious environmental ramifications in the above examples, but they were short-term rather than long-term. The surrounding environments of the above 3 largest oil spills have made remarkable recoveries. Long-term projections of environmental doom-and-gloom scenarios did not materialize. Nature does have its way of healing, yet those in the BP spill taste the pain now. That hurts. It hurts the environment and the pocket book.
This is by no means an attempt to minimize the severity of oil spills. Such events are tragic, preventable in many cases, and cause major disruptions of our environmental, economic, and personal lives. The spill must be stopped and the shores protected. We have one planet to live on. Environmental stewardship of God’s creation is a primary responsibility. The sheer beauty of our home calls for care. Spills are bad. They must be prevented, and, if they do happen–better methods of private, corporate, and government resources should drive restoration as quickly as possible.
Fourth, from a marketing communications and public relations standpoint, the “blame game” gets us nowhere. Pointing fingers at the cause and effect of who, where, why, when, and what does little good. Learning lessons from this event does great good. In fact, in any crisis management and marketing situation, a postmortem analysis of all the players, mistakes, and successes do wonders for future planning and public relations. If we learn from our mistakes chances are we may not repeat them. There must be no room for marketing amnesia. Learn your lessons well. Learn your lessons now. Learn your lessons with an eye to the future. When a significant event occurs we may ponder rather than panic for solutions. In short, use the lessons from an uncontrollable event to help manage future events.
And lastly, beware the “China Syndrome.” You know, the 1979 Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas movie about the 3 Mile Island nuclear disaster, which painted commercial nuclear reactor power as alarming, risky, and dangerous. Yet, the international safety record (look at France) of nuclear power is actually one of the safest sources of electric power. There have been incidents in Russia and the U.S., but given the overall safety record of nuclear power in reference to the total number of reactors verses accidents, it represents one of the safest and cleanest choices for power. So why stop building them when the facts tell us otherwise?
If you apply this to oil, we must admit that the internal combustion engine is here to stay for at least the next 50 years. We have hybrid cars; cars that run on a combination of both gasoline engines and battery technology that has not fundamentally changed since the mid 1980s. Because of this, we must drill and drill safer. Oil is a bridge to the future. The process of drilling can be “refined” and improved, just like any sustained product life cycle. The demand for oil is not going away and a matching technology does not yet exist to fully replace it. Thus, like any good product manager, we work with the technology we have with any eye to the future.
Slick marketing is human marketing. Products and people are both human and sometimes super human. May the BP oil spill be a lesson for small businesses, medium business, and large businesses. From an individually owned company all the way to the world’s largest company, Wal-Mart, the principles are the same.
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