1. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sr no Contents Page No
2. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
1 Brief introduction to the report 4
2 Context Analysis 6
2.1 Internal audits 6
2.2 External audits 7
3 SMART marketing objectives of the proposed communication plan 11
4 Proposed marketing communication strategies 13
5 Implementation and action plan 15
6 Control and evaluation of the proposal 17
7 Budget sheet 18
9 References 19
1. Brief introduction to the report:
Over the last decade or so British Petroleum has faced a lot of criticism in regards to the
issues that is have risen due to issues revolving around the corporate social responsibities
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3. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
(CSR), these issues have and led to BR facing social agendas and leading to poor public
opinion and a negative PR, which has eventually questioned the social standing of the
business.
The role of BP is often highlighted in stark contrast to companies that have been accused of
lobbying intensively against efforts to mitigate the risk of global warming. Alongside
heated debates about global environmental issues and corporate responsibilities in that
respect, the last decade has also witnessed the emergence of a potentially much wider and
broadening social agenda, oftentimes framed by the concepts of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) or corporate citizenship.
With the help of this report the researcher, would explore the different challenges BP faced
over the years and most significant it would help and recommend BP with an appropriate
marketing communication plan, that would eventually aim to uplift the social status of BP
in the market today.
This report is prepared on the basis of the secondary information that is available from
various secondary sources, which includes official publications, market intelligence,
journals, press reports etc.
The entire proposed marketing communication plan would be structure as per the COSTAC
framework and can be best studied with the help of the illustration below:
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4. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
A generic framework for marketing communication planning
Source: DSH digital Shanghai
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5. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
2. Context analysis:
This section of the report would aim to best understand the cause of the problem that
occurred at BP and with the help of this section the report would be able to set a well
define and structure set of marketing communications aims and objectives that would
address the situation promptly. The main of the situation analysis would be to answer the
following set of questions with great clarity:
• What exactly went wrong?
• Who takes the responsibities and accountability for what?
• How does this situation affect British Petroleum?
The report aims to answer these questions with the help of various internal and external
analyses as discussed in the sub-sections below:
2.1 Internal Audits:
What exactly went wrong?
The internal audit section of the report would aim to address the following questions that
would look into answering the question of what exactly went wrong, this question is
answered as below:
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6. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
During the post-war period, the world has witnessed momentous increases in the value and
power of transnational companies. The emergence of global economic integration,
commonly framed in the concept of globalisation, has also helped draw new attention to
issues that transgress companies’ traditional concerns and responsibilities. Over the last
decades, the business agenda has expanded by the inclusion of environmental issues, most
notably the threat of global climate change, and more recently, growing concerns over the
social impact of international commerce. The latter has brought to the fore increasing
attention to social problems such as human rights violations, corruption, and transparency.
Demands for openness and reporting on this ‘triple-bottom-line’ - economic, environmental
and social performance - have particular relevance for companies that operate in countries
and regions with poor governance and human rights records, such as BP, whose operations
and activities span across six continents.
In brief, BP has received moderate negative attention on CSR issues, at least compared to
other transnational like Shell, BP has in recent years received growing recognition in terms
of its positive contributions to the CSR agenda, by demonstrating leadership, and in some
ways acting as a catalyst for changes in the oil industry as a whole. For instance, several
NGOs have publicly acknowledged BP for being among the first oil transnational to
endorse a human rights policy, for its early position on the climate change issue, its exit
from the Global Climate Coalition, and for setting new standards in areas such as
transparency. That said, the following sections outlines in some detail incidents and
accusations raised against BP in relation to macro-CSR issues
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7. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
Who takes the responsibities and accountability for what?
The key responsibility for the situation at BP is the management.
How does this situation affect British Airways?
The situation has led to a lot of negative publicity for BP, reflecting as unethical traders.
2.2 External Audits:
BP is one of the largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies in the world. The
company’s
Operations primarily include the exploration and production of gas and crude oil, as well as
the marketing and trading of natural gas, power, and natural gas liquids. BP is
headquartered in London, the UK and employs about 80,300 people. The company recorded
revenues of $239,272 million in the financial year ended December 2009 (FY2009), a
decrease of 33.7% compared with FY2008. The operating profit of the company was
$28,152 million in FY2009, a decrease of 24.1% compared with FY2008. The net profit
was $16,578 million in FY2009, a decrease of 21.6% compared with FY2008.
The external macro and micro environment had a big effect on the functionality and overall
operations of the business, which led to loss of consumer and significantly stakeholder
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8. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
confidence on British Petroleum deliverables. The negative publicity for BP did well for the
competition and they gained on competitive advantage, winning the trust and business of
customers that were long loyal to BP. In order to best understand the influence of micro,
macro environment and the threats that could possibly be an area of concern for BP in the
near future can be best analyzed by employing one of best market analysis tool, which is
conducting the SWOT analysis for BP,
SWOT analysis:
Strengths Weaknesses
Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: BP is
• Dominant market position Oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico: BP has a strong involved in one of the worst environmental
market position. It is one of the disasters in the US. In April 2010, an
world’s leading oil companies on the
explosion occurred on the Transocean's rig
basis of market capitalization and
proved reserves. The company is the which was drilling and exploration well on
largest producer of oil, the second BP operated license. The
largest producer of gas and the
rig was located approximately 41 miles
largest overall producer of
hydrocarbons in the UK. BP is the offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon
largest producer of oil and gas in block 252
North America
• Vertically integrated operations
• Vertically integrated operations
• Explosion in the Texas refinery
Explosion in the Texas refinery
• Wide geographical presence Violation
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9. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
• Wide geographical presence of tax laws in Turkey
Opportunities Threats
• Acquisition of Devon Energy’s assets • Saturation of resources in the North Sea
Brazil, Azerbaijan, and the US • Instability in some oil-producing
deepwater regions
• Gulf of Mexico • Environmental regulations
• Oil and gas exploration projects Risks • Risks related to exploration and
related to exploration and production production activities
• Investments in the alternative energy • business Threat of a takeover
activities
o business
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10. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
3 SMART objectives of the proposed communication plan:
The report keeping the findings from the internal and external audit above has proposed
marketing communication objectives that are based on the SMART framework of setting
marketing objectives these are discussed as below:
S- Specific:
The first object of the proposed marketing plan is being very specific to the problem, which
in this case would be:
• Working very closely with the R&D and the other teams like HR, Testing etc
ensuring that all the compliances are met regularly
M-Measurable:
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11. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
The second objective of the research would be to measure the changes and the
improvements. This objective is as follows:
• Addressing the general public with the correct and true scenario of the blunder that
occurred.
A- Achievable:
The objectives that are set by the business are completely achievable, and is something that
the staff and management at BP can achieve easily over a set period of time.
R- Realistic and Relevant:
The objective that are set to achieve the desired success from the marketing communication
plan should have objectives that that not only relevant but are very much realistic to achieve
over the pre-define period of time with the available internal and external resources.
Keeping this into consideration the next object is:
• Emphasizing on the current state of operation for BP, emphasizing on the achieved
objectives in different spheres of the business
T- Time based:
All objectives set should always be formulated to be achieved and the outcomes delivered
within a well defined time, this makes the objective more challenging and compelling to
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12. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
achieve, like in the case of BP the objective discussed and described above are set to be
reached within a time frame of one year.
Further to this the main audience to these objectives and the outcomes becoming a success
are discussed as internal and external audiences as below:
Internal audience:
• The global workforce of BP
• Senior management of BP, at country and territory levels
• shareholders
External audience:
• customers
• media, environment and human resources organisations.
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13. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
4 Proposed marketing communication strategies:
The word strategy originates from the Greek literature where the meaning stands to be the
art of leading an army as cited in the work done by Obolensky and Sadlers (1998). In the
case of this marketing communication plan it would refer to the tools and tactics that would
be used and implemented to achieve the long and short term business objectives for British
Petroleum.
Pull strategy:
The pull strategy would always aimed to target the end user customer, and this strategy
processes to achieve the objectives through stages like generating levels of awareness, and
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14. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
information exchange, it principally aims to influence and change the attitude of both the
internal and external audiences, and generates momentum in the process of enquiring and
experimenting, eventually leading to repetitive purchase behavior (Fill, 2002)
BA with this strategy could:
• Direct marketing
• Use internet as a medium of bidirectional communication
Push Strategy:
The push strategy concentrates on creating some additional values through value activities,
these activities eventually leads to a repetitive purchase behavior among customers (Fill,
2002), in the case of BP this strategy can be employed as below:
• Campaigns that would enrich and push public relations
• Capitalize on using media as a communication channel
Profile Strategy:
BP could employ this strategy by:
• Regular media presence through press releases and other forms of communication.
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15. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
• Getting involved in local support activities, encouraging campaigns, organisations that
work in support of green environment.
The above discussed strategies have their own unique advantages associated with them, and
with BP employing these strategies, differences in performance and customer attitude
would be profound and visible.
5 Implementation and action plan:
Promotional mix:
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16. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
• Comprehensive media relations that are highly visible: BP should create clear
communication with both its internal external customers ensuring everyone is clear of
the businesses mission as well as vision
o To develop media advocacy
The strategy employed would be a mixture of pull, push and profile strategy. The employed
tactic would be setting a new information based website, which would act as a channel to
interact with media reporters and also act as a face to issue regular updates about the
business.
• Paid media campaigns: the strategy that would be applied would be a mixture of push
and profile strategy, media channels based on GRP, which is based on reach and
frequency are selected and the different channels for media exposure.
Organizing Media-Press releases:
BP should continually organize to have press release to ensure they have good media
relation with the key spokespersons in the industry. This would also act like a positive
communication channel for BP, ensuring that everyone is aware of the ethical standards
followed at BP
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17. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
6 Control and evaluation of the proposed plan:
Measurement and continual evaluation is one of the key characteristics of any plan, it is
very important that the proposed pan for marketing communication is evaluated and the
required changes made regularly and promptly to ensure that the there is no deviation from
the main objectives of the proposed plan. The control and evaluation for this proposed plan
is as discussed below:
Process measures:
• Ensuring that the communication programs are executed on time and within budget
• Checking media content analysis, this would check for accuracy, impact, reach and
balance
• Checking for stakeholder engagement, business partnership and response from the
influencers
• Analysing and studying media influence and impression
Outcome measurement:
• Ensuring that proper plans are in place in regards to issues relating to environmental
concerns
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18. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
• Taking regular employee feedbacks and conducting HR audits in order to make sure
that the workforce is efficient and complacent
• Monitoring customer feedback and developmental suggestions and bringing them to
implementation at regular intervals.
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19. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
7 Budget Sheet:
Total budget allocation £15million for the marketing communication Campaign:
Marketing communication Proposed budget Total
activity
Media relations £1.5 million £ 1.5 million
Paid Media campaign TV: £5.8million £ 5.8 million
Radio: £0.75 million
Print: £ 2million
Outdoor: £0.5 million
Online: £1 million
Media relations £0.7 million £0.7 million
Working with other £1.5 million £1.5 million
organisations
Measurement and £1.25 million £1.25 million
evaluation
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20. Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing communication plan
(British Petroleum a case analysis)
8 References:
• Fill C (2002), Marketing Communications: Contexts, Strategies and Applications,
Harlow, Pearson Education Limited.
• Obolensky N (1998), Strategy Formation Models; In: Sadler P, Eds, Management
Consultancy: a handbook for the best practice, London: Kogan Page Limited.
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