Deepwater Horizon: Lessons in Corporate Branding

Abstract

How did the 2016 film Deepwater Horizon affect BP’s corporate brand? How can a company reliably measure and track its brand for strategic planning purposes? This study provides a practical approach for measuring the effect of external events on a firm’s corporate brand. Such a measurement approach requires a consistent set of corporate-brand attributes that should be measured on an ongoing basis. Results show that the film’s release did not have the expected negative impact on corporate brand for Shell and Exxon. The impact was similarly small for BP, though BP’s corporate brand was already lower prior to the movie’s release.

Keywords: coroporate brand; public relations; movie release; brand equity