BP Buys Prime Online Space: Message Manipulation?

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by Frances Martel | 6:36 pm, June 5th, 2010

» 15 comments

Type in the words “oil spill” on Google– or “oil leak,” “Gulf oil,” or “oil slick.” See any recurring themes? BP has bought prime real estate on the search engine for all of those search terms, such that their company’s site (and message) are the first thing a user finds before they run into, say, the day’s news, or sites they have no control over. It’s simple advertising, technically, but some people are calling it manipulation of the media to protect their image.

The BP public relations machine did not start on the right foot– and, as cannot be emphasized enough, no thanks to BP CEO Tony Hayward– but now that they have a uniform message and some relatively positive news with their current project, they are doing all they can to bring their message to readers. Earlier today CNN’s Don Lemon had Maureen Mackey of The Fiscal Times to explain exactly what BP was doing, and what issue she took with it.

Basically, she explained, they are buying advertising space on search terms– many companies do this all the time for searches like company names or products. BP is using the same tactic to buy space on “oil leak” and “oil spill,” such that someone looking for news on the matter would run straight into BP’s company information before they get to independent news. As she argued, “what it effectively does is that it bumps down other legitimate news and opinion pieces that are addressing the spill… and they’re paying big money for that.”

CNN’s interview with Mackey and explanation of BP’s strategy below:

BP, CNN, Don Lemon, Google, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Oil Spill, PR

roxsteady

Don’t worry! Only rubes and people who watch fox news would type in those ambiguous word searches. Liberals would simply type in Horizon Oil Spill or Deepwater Horizon oil spill because that’s the name of the rig. It may be too simple for some but, that’s what and who BP is counting on in these searches.
http://thedailybarb.com Burnnotice

Its a sponsored link is all. Google is making bank off this. So whats the problem Frances….
TylerDurden

Deepwater Horizon oil spill because that’s the name of the rig” Which began drilling for oil in Feb. 2010 making this Barry’s spill and environmental disaster.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

It’s a legitimate strategy. The ads don’t appear on Google News, so they’d only appear to those who use the main search and though I haven’t looked, but I assume it also appears on the “Adsense for Content” boxes, which means that it’ll show on regular media sites.

And basically, the woman is trying to blame BP because she thinks some people may use the regular Google interface to look for news and she believes they are too dumb to know the difference between a paid ad and a search listing, while she estimates the cost to BP as dollars-a-day, while it’s actually priced per-click.

I would tell Ms. Mackey to get grip. This is how things are done in the 21st Century and she has to deal, but then I realized that she and her publication got four minutes of CNN air with a non-story, so she clearly knows how to play the game.
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@roxsteady: I actually noticed the BP ad buy a couple of days ago. If memory serves, BP used to underwrite a “Peak Oil” campaign that many thought was really meant to obfuscate the message and I was looking for its tagline, so apparently “BP” is one of the keywords that now point toward their “oilspillnews”.
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Oh, and while I’m waxing on… the real money will go into rebranding all of their stations “Amoco”, but we’re at least a year from that happening. I had seen a figure for all of the sign replacement and whatnot from when Nationsbank became BofA which is probably comparable, but I don’t feel like going through the annual reports to find the precise price.
Barney

This is like when Obama spent all that money on keywords for Goldman Sachs. BP is at least up front and honest about it
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

@Barney: Back during the primaries, the Obama campaign bought all of their Democratic challenger’s names. I know because I was buying all of the candidates from both sides and when you got down past Edwards, especially in the beginning before everyone got prohibitively expensive, it was basically the two of doing the bidding.

IOW: The Obama campaign/”Organizing for america” understands the game.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

@Barney: PS) When you got down to Gravel & Kucinich, they apparently couldn’t afford to bid on their own names or didn’t think about it because across all three search engines, a search on either of them produced an ad for Obama, one for the site I was promoting and one for the NYTimes.
Barney

President Jug Ears is using his web site to get his brainless followers to harass right wing talk radio show hosts

http://bigjournalism.com/jsexton/2010/06/05/dnc-obama-now-astroturfing-talk-radio/#more-76330
Barney

@Magister.

Doing it during the campaign is one thing. Doing it as propaganda to deceive about failed policy and to push a disatrous agenda is another
sarainitaly

Magister says:
June 5, 2010 at 8:23 pm

It used to drive me crazy! I would search for something on Hillary Clinton, and all I would get were results for Obama.
The Real Royal King

It used to drive me crazy! I would search for something on Hillary Clinton, and all I would get were results for Obama.

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That explains everything but your filthy and foul mouth.
The Real Royal King

TylerDurden says:
June 5, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Deepwater Horizon oil spill because that’s the name of the rig” Which began drilling for oil in Feb. 2010 making this Barry’s spill and environmental disaster.

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So, tne permitting process is irrelevant?

Frankly, there’s no room for partisanship here. Democrat and Republican alike, hands are oil-stained.
sarainitaly

The Really Reduced Kock size:
June 6, 2010 at 10:31 am
That explains everything but your filthy and foul mouth.

And your small limp dick syndrome explains your need to make idiotic comments about everything I write.

I can stop swearing, but you will always have a small limp dick.
The Real Royal King

Look everyone! Sara N. Italy can talk really nasty! Isn’t that special!
http://www.sodahead.com/user/profile/1153279/texas_democrat_06/ WhoIsTheRealRoyalKing

Robert Stephenson – you are bovine, but assuming you are not, you and your pal Bovine with your obsession about Jeff Merrill’s horse and the filthy talk about bestiality, you have no right to poke fun at anyone. You are filth Robert Stephenson of Austin.