BP Oil Spill – What day is it now?

By Guest Blogger Brad Carson. Originally posted on his WKQK 94.1 FM blog.

It’s been since April 20th that the BP oil spill took place following the “explosion” and fire.  Unfortunately, it’s still going on.  Clearly, there’s no true expert in this situation because the oil is still spilling into the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.

So why would some silly radio DJ from Memphis now feel compelled to write in his “happy go lucky blog” about a national catastrophe that is seemingly above his head?  Well, for starters it’s almost hard to avoid the daily updated coverage.  Frankly, as a marketer/media “expert” I’m fascinated by the media/public relations aspects of the spill.  The political positioning crap is hard to ignore as well.

But as a new twitter user (check me out at www.twitter.com/BradCarson), this whole thing jumped the shark (ironic sea oriented term) when some creative genius set up a bogus twitter account titled “@BPGlobalPR”.  This is someone with a little free time, some creativity, and now more than 100K followers!  In today’s media landscape, given the size of this catastrophe, even BP can’t control their own image.  Even if BP were able to miraculously plug the hole, their value as a company is cliff diving.

And deservedly so, right?  I mean regardless of the regulation issues here, think about your own life or career.  The old adage goes, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

Personally, I enjoy music, sports, and radio.  I focused all of my young career life on those 3 things.  Makes sense I’m a radio DJ on a music station, a program director for a sports station, and I’m in radio after working in the business since I was 18.

At home, I lack many traits that would make me a “handy man.”  My wife will tell you!  I know exactly where to go when I need to get things done.  They are called experts.  Whether it’s a problem with a toilet (plumber), a roof (roofer), or landscaping (I know a few things about that because my father was in excavation), you need to know where to go to get things done right.

Clearly some things are easier than others.  We finished the difficult task of putting a man on the moon (NASA).  People are able to sail around the world by themselves (I recently heard a smart teenager did that). 

We don’t do things if there aren’t experts.  If BP (or any company) weren’t experts enough to figure out how to solve a problem such as the one they and the rest of us are experiencing, what the hell were they doing drilling in the first place?  Maybe regulation is part of the problem?  But what the hell were they thinking?  Money maybe?  Probably.  Which leads me to believe BP should in fact get the death penalty. 

The solution?  It needs to be dramatic.  In my non-expert opinion it should include more explosions, very smart engineer people, using expensive tools that we would never think of, and something large and heavy sitting on top of it.  I don’t know… I’m not an “expert” in this field.  I should have applied.  Truth is, I wouldn’t take apart my car if I didn’t know how to put it back together.  I can’t, so I won’t even attempt it.