The BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is much more than a PR crisis. It’s a full-blown industrial and environmental disaster. And at the moment there’s no end in sight.

The communication response from the oil giant has been rightly attacked – from the emotionless reaction of its gaffe-prone executives to its attempts to apparently close down conversation online.

Battered Perception
Attacks in traditional media and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are a very real example of the truism that companies don’t own their brands anymore.

The damage in this instance is well documented in the form of a battered share price and widespread criticism across all forms of media.

BP can’t begin the job of repairing its reputation until it stops oil from leaking from the sea bed. The best that it can hope for in the interim is to convey its side of the clean-up operation – and be straight with the world.

The signs are that as the crisis enters its third month, BP has finally recognised that it can no longer ignore its audiences. It has launched a micro-site that is a portal for content which is amplified via networks such as Facebook, Flick, Twitter and YouTube.

Buying Pilloried
BP has been criticised for buying-up keywords on Google when it should be directing cash to the clean-up effort. But at the moment it has little chance of getting across its point of view in any form of traditional media.

The oil giant is directing traffic to information about progress on the clean-up effort and contact information for claims. But no amount of social media effort can make up for the seemingly insensitive reaction from its corporate bosses.

Becoming Plain?
Before this disaster oil companies haven’t had to make an effort to engage. The oil industry is completely lacking in transparency from well to pump. It might explain why the disaster hasn’t resulted in a boycott of BP forecourts.

Ultimately this is a story about our dependence on oil and our need to find alternative sources of energy rather than taking ever greater risks to drill oil.

That was an issue that BP had started to address under its previous chief executive John Browne. It’s a narrative to which it must return if it is to have any chance of rebuilding its reputation and restoring value in the business.

Stephen Waddington is the managing director of Speed. Follow him on Twitter via @wadds.