The Future of BP’s Brand

By Jens Trulsson, Journalist - RecruitingTrends.com Guest Contributor 

The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an environmental and social disaster. In its wake the problems BP faces are monumental – not only from an ecological perspective, but also from a branding perspective. Can a company survive this kind of negative publicity and how will it affect the perception of BP’s brand and recruitment of future talent?

For years, oil companies have tried to transform their brand from the public’s perception of the ‘dirty’ oil business to more environmentally friendly companies, looking to the future and alternative fuel sources. In 2001 when British Petroleum renamed itself BP, they also adopted the tagline “Beyond Petroleum” to signal a focus outside the oil business.

“From British Petroleum to Beyond Petroleum is a typical way of moving the brand in a positive direction as it shows that you are thinking proactively,” said Calle Peyron, founder of the advisory consultancy network Mind Your Brand. “It is visionary and inspiring and indicates you want to contribute to a better world. It creates purpose and adds value.”

The employer brand is often directly related to the public status of the company. BP’s profitability gives them access to myriads of talented people which could’ve helped them eliminate some of the basic errors they made, but power sometimes feeds arrogance. This was clearly demonstrated when BP lied about the amount of oil spilling out, tried shifting the blame to contractors and got caught doctoring photographs.

“The employer brand is part of building an identity,” Peyron said. “We are today, more than ever before, defined as individuals by the company we work for, no one wants to be ashamed of their employer and have to explain themselves because of their line of work.”

Click here to read more about how BP’s employer brand drowned in its own oil (Pages 8-9)

Posted by RecruitingTrends.com on October 11, 2010. Filed under Thought Leadership, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry