It has been a long road back for BP, trying to restore consumer confidence in the brand after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Partners abandoned them, consumers rebelled, government officials encouraged boycotts, and change came. However slowly and steadily the company has rebuilt consumer confidence, and although it may never have a day where the brand is not associated with the oil spill, there is more and more good will occurring to connect the brand again with positive actions in the community.
Some of those recent ties have occurred with Major League Baseball clubs the brand has been associated with. In the spring, BP joined the Cleveland Indians in a “BP sponsors BP (batting practice) promotion.” The idea took a relatively pristine time before a game, when fans are coming in and strolling the park, and gave BP a forum to subtly create promotions and get their positive community messages out. It also gave them a forum to create some fun fan and consumer promotions, giving access to areas for an up close and personal experience.
Then this past week the brand added even more enhancements to their promotional partnerships with the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, sponsoring the crosstown rivalry in interleague play. The brand also launched a digital platform, BPLittleThings.com, that asks both Cubs and White Sox fans to share one little thing that makes Chicago baseball special to them. Through August, a select number of eligible fan entries will be displayed in dynamic advertisements around the city on the Red Line, at bus shelters and through unique outdoor projections at U.S. Cellular Field and near Wrigley Field. BP is also supporting the campaign through a multimedia advertising effort including radio, print and digital buys. The effort is just one way that the brand will celebrate its second-year sponsorship of the Cubs, White Sox and the BP Crosstown Cup in Chicago.
BP also plans to give its customers a chance to win one of more than 50,000 fan prizes as part of the BP Crosstown Cup instant-win game, which returns to more than 450 gas stations in the Chicagoland area starting today. Customers who fill up with 10 gallons or more of BP gasoline with Invigorate now through August 2, can go inside at participating BP stations to request a scratch-off game card that could be an instant winner of a Cubs or White Sox experience, like the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Cubs or White Sox home game, a home entertainment package, or a $10 BP Gift Card while supplies last. BP launched its sponsorship with both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox in 2010, coinciding with formation of the BP Crosstown Cup, the first official structure to the teams’ interleague rivalry, symbolized by a namesake trophy.
The work with both the Chicago teams and the Indians are a smart grassroots way to show the consumer that the little things that brands do can make a difference for consumers, and that the accident in The Gulf was a lesson learned, and one that the company has taken very seriously with a road map to recovery in brand. They are great next steps, well timed ahead of the summer vacation season, and smartly done with subtle messages that keep BP in a positive light without forgetting the issues of the past.
America loves baseball and its traditions, and spending dollars to innovate and engage through those traditions makes great sense to help the brand recover from the bottom on up. Some moves definitely worth a double, if not a homer, in the brand marketing space.
