Finally BP Does Something Right . . . By Not Doing Anything
May 25th, 2010 - posted by Barry
It’d be easy to armchair quarterback BP’s handling of the oil spill disaster off the Gulf Coast. Despite what may be very earnest efforts to quickly fix the problem and minimize the environmental and economic impact caused by the accident, BP continues to suffer from negative media coverage driven by uncertainty over how and when the problem will finally be resolved.
So-called PR experts are falling all over themselves questioning the speed, sincerity and comprehensiveness of BP’s response. After hearing directly from Kevin Phelan, BP’s SVP of Marketing for the U.S., yesterday, I’d agree they’re not getting the message out about the many positive steps they’re taking to mitigate the damage.
That’s why it was so refreshing to see BP finally do something right . . . ironically, by doing nothing at all. It seems an impostor has claimed the handle @bpglobalpr on Twitter, posting a range of sarcastic content including this beauty: “The ocean looks just a bit slimmer today. Dressing it in black really did the trick! #bpcares.”
Instead of swinging into action with its army of lawyers, though, BP has for now taken a hands-off approach, according to a report in Advertising Age. “People are entitled to their views on what we’re doing and we have to live with those,” said a BP spokesman. “We are doing the best we can to deal with the current situation and to try to stop the oil from flowing and to then clean it up.”
Pretty sensitive for a company being accused of an historic lack of sensitivity.
Google gets a spring makeover!
May 7th, 2010 - posted by Anish Shah
In case you haven’t already noticed it yet, Google has revamped its search results page in order to enhance the overall Google search experience.
As per the design team at Google, “we tried to take all the things we strive for at Google and make them better: powerful technology, snappy results, simplicity and a fun and quirky personality. Our goal was to take a design known by millions of people and make it better.”
The Thrill is Gone
April 13th, 2010 - posted by Barry
That “whooshing” sound you heard today was the air being let out of the Social Media balloon with the news that Twitter will now begin integrating paid ads into its platform.
Coined “promoted tweets” by the Twitterati, the ads will first appear alongside searches conducted on the Twitter website. Later, they are expected to appear within user feeds on both the Twitter site and third-party platforms like TweetDeck and TwitterBerry.
Does this move mark the end of non-commercial social media? I’d say that event occurred months if not years ago, when savvy marketers figured out how to leverage these “new” tools and create real dialog with their target audiences. Still, one can’t help but feel that the purity of the Twittersphere has been violated somewhat, and that things will never again be the same.
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