an overview of the BP crisis from a communications perspective

created by liri andersson and jonathan macdonald

this fluid world

this fluid world

this document covers the key events, from a communications perspective, taking place during the first two months of the BP crisis*

we do not intend to pass judgment, nor comment on the actions of any party involved

we feel deeply for the lives affected by this horrific disaster

*a bibliography of cited sources can be found at the end of this document

the Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd., was under contract with BP to drill an exploratory well

together they were in the process of temporarily closing it in anticipation of returning to commercial production

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april 20th 9.46pm – the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico

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the coast guard responds with a search-and-rescue mission. 115 workers are rescued, 16 of which are injured

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11 are missing, presumed dead this fluid world

24th – the first communication from BP is a practical one, estimating the leak

at 1000 barrels/day

27th – the first tweet from BP (in capitals): “BP PLEDGES FULL SUPPORT FOR

DEEPWATER HORIZON” with a link to a press release

28th – BP announce underestimating spill by a factor of five

30th – BP CEO, Tony Hayward tells Reuters “This was not our accident”.

this is the CEO’s 1st communication

april

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1st – on the new BP.com ‘Gulf of Mexico response’ page, BP updates on relief effort and contact numbers whilst the NY Times creates an ‘Oil Spill Tracker’ to view predictions and actual spread

3rd – Hayward admits liability and announces that BP will pay for the cleanup and any legitimate legal claims

15th – Hayward says on Sky news “The impact will be very, very modest…the ocean is very big and the oil we’re putting into it is tiny”

may

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16th – @BPGlobalPR, a parody twitter account, opens with the tweet: “We regretfully admit that something has happened off of the Gulf Coast. More to come”

18th – Hayward flies home to celebrate his 54th birthday with his family

20th – BP forced by legislators to stream live webcam footage of leak from ocean floor

21st – Greenpeace protesters take action

may

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24th – Toby Odone (BP spokesman) when asked about @BPGlobalPR tells AdAge: “People are frustrated at what's happening, as are we, and that's just their way of expressing it. People are entitled to their views on what we're doing and we have to live with those"

31st – Hayward proclaims: “I want my life back”

31st – an unofficial logo re-design contest goes live whilst @BPGlobalPR has 100,000 followers. its author writes an ‘Open letter to the media’ (which goes viral instantly)

may

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"I started @BPGlobalPR, because the oil spill had been going on for almost a month and all BP had to offer

were bullshit PR statements.  No solutions, no urgency, no sincerity, no nothing.  That’s why I decided

to relate to the public for them. 

I started off just making jokes at their expense with a few friends, but now it has turned into something of

a movement.  People are sharing billboards, music, graphic art, videos and most importantly,

information”

logo & slogan as used by @BPGlobalPR

@BPGlobalPR’s Open letter to the media (excerpt)

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by the end of may it is estimated that 779,000 barrels (32.7 million gallons) of oil has been released

the 1989 spill of the Exxon Valdez tanker released 250,000 barrels (10.8 million gallons) of oil into Prince William Sound off Alaska's coast

may

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june 1st – President Obama: “BP will be held accountable for financial losses from

the greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history”

1st – the Mozilla Firefox ‘black oil’ plugin released: all mentions of BP on the web

can now be covered in ‘black oil’

1st – the ‘Boycott BP’ facebook page has 233,000 fans, the official BP pages have 18,000. @BPGlobalPR (parody) has 125,000

followers and @BP_America (official) has 10,000

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june 1st – stock price falls by another 15% meaning a fall of c.30% in 43 days.

$62.7 billion of valuation has been wiped out at this point

2nd – Hayward admits being “Not prepared” (in relation to the leak)

2nd – Stephen Fry tweets the logo re-design competition to 1.53million followers

2nd – @BPGlobalPR sells $10,000 of ‘BP cares’ t-shirts and donates all proceeds

to the recovery mission

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june 2nd – 134 entries into the unofficial logo re-design contest from amateur and

professional designers

2nd – Titanic & Avatar Film producer James Cameron offers equipment and technology

support which is instantly turned down. Cameron says to press:

“Those morons don’t know what they’re doing”

2nd – environmental groups include the Crisis Commons, Wildlife Federation and the

New Orleans Foundation all using social media and mobile apps for recovery support

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june 3rd – Hayward: "I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment on Sunday when I said

that 'I wanted my life back'. When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologise, especially

to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident.”

4th – Huffington Post reports BP using Google to manipulate public opinion

6th – BP issue a press release that a new approach is capturing 10,500 barrels

in 24 hours (1/2 estimated leak rate)

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the rest is history

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if you would like to find out more about this fluid world please contact us or visit www.thisfluidworld.com

liri andersson

liri@thisfluidworld.com

jonathan macdonald

jonathan@thisfluidworld.com

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http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144339

http://www.propublica.org/article/congressmen-raised-concerns-about-bp-safety-in-months-before-gulf-spill

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/conversation-twitters-satirical-bp-star-10849258Don't

http://mashable.com/2010/06/09/bpglobalpr-changes-bio

http://mashable.com/2010/06/02/social-media-gulf-oil-spill/

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/bp-gulf-oil-spill-timeline.php

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/50/386/Timeline_of_Events_in_BP_Oil_Spill:_Day_by_Day,_April_20_to_May_26.html

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/40/435/A_Timeline_of_the_BP_Oil_Spill_Crisis_Pics.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264721101985024.html

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100529/COLUMNISTS20/5300320/Notes+form+Washington+%7C+BP+oil+spill+washes+up+on+the+shores+of+politics

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37444105/ns/gulf_oil_spill/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-BP/119101198107726

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BP/120558271299539

http://streetgiant.com/2010/06/02/leroy-stick-the-man-behind-bpglobalpr/

http://www.businessinsider.com/bps-crisis-pr-strategy-unprepared-inefficient-and-incomprehensive-2010-5

http://adage.com/poll?poll_id=212

http://adage.com/article?article_id=143663

http://www.ogilvypr.com/en/case-study/bp

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/business/media/07link.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/1644053/infographic-of-the-day-what-the-heck-is-a-relief-well-bp-explains

bibliography

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http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/05/28/bps-logo-redesigned/

http://mashable.com/2010/06/05/top-10-twitter-trends-this-week-chart-4/?

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/05/28/Brand-News-052810AM.aspx

http://danwin.com/thoughts/bp-and-the-truth/

http://www.fastcompany.com/1651496/greenpeace-to-the-world-give-us-your-best-meaning-your-worst-bp-logo?

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/04/bps-spill-plan-leaks.html

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5722166-british-petroleum-the-scum-of-the-earth

http://mashable.com/2010/05/21/oil-spill-pictures/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575285000265955016.html

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bitedaily/the-bp-oil-spill-re-enacted-by-cats-in-1-minute-18op/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7129204.ece

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/06/bp-oil-related-buys/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/bp-gulf-oil-spill-timeline.php

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-03/obamas-oil-spill-fashion/

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700038165/USOCs-BP-connections-concern-Olympic-athletes.html

http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam

http://news1.newsmax.com/bpspill/?PROMO_CODE=9F59-1&gclid=CKzd-rr9_KECFZqX2Aod6WGMEA

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/50/386/Timeline_of_Events_in_BP_Oil_Spill:_Day_by_Day,_April_20_to_May_26.html

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-07/bp-disaster-shows-a-profit-buying-2018-oil-while-selling-spot.html

http://wireupdate.com/wires/6022/company-says-time-is-now-for-bp-to-reach-out-for-help/

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/40/435/A_Timeline_of_the_BP_Oil_Spill_Crisis_Pics.html

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7358989/bp-faces-another-tough-week-despite-well-progress/

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

bibliography

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacqueline-leo/bp-using-google-to-manipu_b_598677.html

http://adage.com/article?article_id=143663

http://www.rfistudios.com/blogs/left-brain/2010/05/for-bp-crisis-management-in-social-media-is-as-slippery-as-oil.html

http://www.wallblog.co.uk/2010/05/26/bp-beaten-in-social-media-stakes-by-fake-tweets/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20006199-36.html

http://adage.com/article?article_id=144062

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6520X020100603

http://socialistworker.org/2010/06/03/catastrophe-waiting-to-happen

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/bp-media-clampdown-no-pho_n_598119.html

http://www.logomyway.com/contestView.php?contestId=1746

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100603/sc_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentbpbritain&a=Science%20News&x=1

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/bp-twitter-satirist-donates-10-000-for-gulf-oil-spill-relief/19501125/

http://mashable.com/2010/06/02/social-media-gulf-oil-spill/

http://blogs.hbr.org/corkindale/2010/06/five_lessons_in_leadership_fro.html

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/07/oil-spill-report-bp-and-white-house-sentiment-spills-onto-twitter/

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/147/fast-talk-patricia-menezes.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/1679502/investors-to-oil-companies-prove-that-youre-prepared-for-disaster

bibliography

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