There are many reasons for why an organization might employ Top Pup Media. We produce mostly promotional and marketing videos, but you may also require content for recruitment and campaigns. In an age of accountability and mistrust of the public towards businesses, some entities are seeing the value of using video for rebuilding your company reputation.
BP and Lessons After Deepwater Horizon
With social media being accessible to almost everyone, mistakes and disasters can become world news in a matter of minutes. BP discovered this in 2010 with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The rig exploded and sank, and over the following months, 4.9 million barrels of crude oil spilled out into the Gulf of Mexico.Following, BP embarked on a massive plan to rebuild its reputation, particularly in view of what was considered poor PR handling at the time of the spill. In the last six years since the event, they produced a series of videos called “BP’s Commitment to the Gulf”. Some 96 videos made it onto the YouTube channel before the series was taken down some time in 2015.
How Video Can Repair Corporate Reputation
The Top Pup Media blog has demonstrated repeatedly just how important video is for building a brand and a reputation. If you can build a reputation through video, then it makes sense that you can rebuild a reputation. Here’s how video can help:
Video Engages
It’s worth repeating this statistic again. Video represents just a fraction of the content (around 1%) on the internet, but some 97% of viewed content. That’s a small proportion with a large impact.
Video Provides a Human Face
If people can see a human face, a voice, speaking their language in their way then they are more likely to respond positively. Corporations sometimes gain a reputation of being faceless and unaccountable. Video is your chance to change that.
Video is the Best Way to “Show Don’t Tell”
Video is your opportunity to show people precisely what you are doing to remedy the situation. In the case of BP, the new board of CEOs used footage of the clean-up operation to show the efforts of the company.
The Five Ds of Reputation Repair
Before you can begin to repair your reputation, you need to discover precisely what it is. Failing to address the issues important to your audience may make your campaign appear insincere. Understand the reputation that you desire. Similarly, if you don’t know how you wish to be perceived, how do you expect the audience to do so? Define your audience. To whom are you apologizing or making amends? Do you have the right audience? How you design your strategy is also important. You need to use the right approach. Appealing to shareholders is vastly different from apologizing to a community who must now rebuild their village. Where, when and how you deploy your video is also vital. It needs to reach the right people, on the right channels, at the right time.
