Tags: BP, corporate reputation, energy

BP’s trials and tribulations are well documented.

This is about as tough as it gets. Toyota is the other mega brand that has recently endured such difficulties but in many ways consumers may feel it’s easier for Toyota to recover and fix a problem inside a car than it is for BP to cleanse its own image. As the story increases its tenure and the media look for new angles to prolong it the guns are now trained on BP’s much applauded positioning … or at least, once much applauded.

BP’s notion of going Beyond Petroleum raised questions of us as consumers as well as articulating BP’s aspirations to belong in a world that was less oil dependent. Whilst the idea of BP being Beyond Petroleum now seems to lack relevance to the brand’s immediate priorities, it doesn’t mean the intent was wrong. But did BP use ‘Beyond Petroleum’ as campaign jargon without necessarily digesting the fundamental implications such a positioning would invariably be expected to deliver upon? Did BP move away from ‘Beyond Petroleum’ but overlook informing us?

Ironically ‘Beyond Petroleum’ may be one of the brand’s best assets in the crisis. For the BP brand to restore its standing it needs to hold its hands up and commit to radical actions; actions that based on its own recent experiences really look to move the world’s appetite for energy ‘Beyond Petroleum’.

So what next for BP? Well, it’s clearly going to be some time before the brand is able to recover. Investor sentiment seems to have understandably turned against BP, but paradoxically whilst we may be repelled by one oil company, the business model of an oil company correlates to our own consumption of oil, so the model is still alive and well until our habits collectively change. All of this signals that an acquisition may well be on the cards but only the most confident bidder will come forward until the costs of compensation are understood.