Out of the Box

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

By Menachem Lubinsky on March 21 2011

You almost expected it. As soon as the furor would die down about the terrible mismanagement of BP, they would mount a campaign to cleanse their name. So it should come as no surprise that a man with a Southern drawl is all over the airwaves talking about just how great things are on the Gulf of Mexico. In less than a minute, he is employed once again, tourists are welcome, and the Gulf has been totally cleaned up.
You might say that with this ad, BP sought to address the three major issues that haunted them for so many months. The environment. Oh well, they got that totally cleaned up and you can take a deep breath and smell the fresh air. Industry? Well, tourism is a major part of industry in those parts and with clean beaches and great resorts, why not welcome everybody back. That leaves only employment. So here is this guy who seems to be gainfully employed and pretty happy with his life.
This approach was a natural sequence to the initial crisis management where the key officials at BP promised to do all the things that the man is now saying was actually done. It would not surprise me if the third stage already had testimonials from people enjoying the beach this summer and even people who are buying homes.
BP is clearly on a mission to clear its name, not only in the US but worldwide. It is addressing some of the fundamental; concerns of legislators and others about preventing such a disaster in the future. That’s for their lobbyists and high priced consultants to deal with. This is about winning back the hearts of the common man and woman. No business can afford to have sustained bad will, even if you are one of the largest energy companies in the world.
It has always been an important imperative in marketing to develop and maintain a positive image. It was considered the prerequisite to successful branding. But what happens when disaster strikes like it occasionally happens to some of the most successful brands?
That’s when the expression of turning lemons into lemonade comes into play. What that actually means is to take those issues that caused you the grief and turn into a positive, which is precisely what BP is trying to do. Now the trick is to make you believe it!

Out of the Box is a collection of strategic marketing articles that Lubicom has published on various topics, trends and ideas in the marketing world. The articles have been published in the Hamodia weekly newspaper circulated on three continents to a readership of well over 100,000.

The name, "Out of the Box" is a term used frequently in business nowadays to describe creative thinking that is not the norm. It is meant to help a business pull away from the pack or separate oneself from the competition. It is to some extent fraught with risk, simply because it is not the run of the mill thinking, but it is at the same time the key to reaching the next opportunity.