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Moreover, no amount of advertising will undo it.

Fact is, advertising is only one component of marketing, and marketing always begins with what your company actually is and what it does. In other words, advertising should be seen not as a smoke-screen tactic or spin but as a means of communicating what your company’s identity is and what it has to offer. Simply put, when advertising is done right, it is the truth well told.

In this case, BP’s chief marketing problem actually seems to be a central business problem. The story circulating now is that BP sub-contracted out some of the most delicate and dangerous deep-sea drilling work to someone else (Halliburton). If this is the case, the advertising might have said we care and we are responsible—but the drilling reality says we’ve outsourced that responsibility (and outsourcing says we don’t care enough).

BP’s redemption rests on the current rescue. How thoroughly will the company become and remain involved? How forcefully and responsibly will they lead?

BP’s response to this crisis is the best opportunity to promote its brand, but they’re also going to need to confront the impression that corners might have been cut.

Loser #2
The American Stock Market (mainly NYSE and Nasdaq) earns loser spot #2 for the breath-taking 1000-point drop last week.

Sure, markets go up and markets go down, but volatility is different from instability. This is another example of how marketing starts with getting your core business reality down.

In recent years, both NYSE and Nasdaq have done a lot of advertising aimed at building their image. What’s the use of advertising when the very reason your business exists can be questioned? The thousand-point drop did exactly that. The best stock markets are transparent and accountable. That is, while prices go up and prices go down, everyone playing the game knows that there is a basically orderly process of bidding and asking that controls how prices move.

Last week, both major exchanges went banana republic, and the fact that several days later we still don’t know what happened (was it a computer glitch? A human error?) doesn’t build confidence —and confidence is key.

Both Nasdaq and NYSE have made some good initial steps at brand damage control by voiding some of the transactions during the worst part of the chaos, but the crucial thing is making sure this doesn’t happen again.

If it does happen again, Fuggedaboutit! The long-term brand damage to these established exchanges could be irreparable. Hopefully, the folks in charge of the exchanges will clarify things at their meeting with regulators Monday. No matter what happens, they have to let investors and the general public know through action and promotion that the trading system is solid. We can only hope that the geniuses on Wall Street finally understand that marketing demands understanding of your clients’ needs.

Loser #3
Last week, Newsweek was put up for sale and, no surprise, no one’s clamoring to buy it. I’ve written a lot about newspapers and their future (same basic premise —here’s one sample).

There’s not much more I can say. Even though everyone could see this one coming, it’s still a shock to see such a venerable brand lose its brand equity so quickly.

Circulation numbers have fallen for the 2nd largest news periodical in the United States for some time. Part of the problem is being blamed on the increasingly niche nature of news readership and the fact that weekly roundups of the type that Newsweek delivers are simply not appealing in the age of the Internet.

That may be so, but every great brand that fails ultimately has itself to blame for failure. If Newsweek’s failure to adapt isn’t an example of not responding to the needs of your customers, I don’t know what is. When an industry changes for good, you must change to survive no matter what you feel about it. Buggy whip, anyone?

During the same period that Newsweek has posted losses, the British news magazine The Economist has been growing by leaps and bounds.

Why is that?

Well, part of the reason is that The Economist offers forward-looking thought pieces. In fact, almost the entire magazine is filled with first-rate analysis (the news is re-capped, too, but only for the purpose of providing necessary background). The Economist has also done the hard work of aggressively building a readership that appreciates its kind of work. The funny thing is that in an ever-growing world with ever-shrinking expectations for magazine circulation numbers, niche magazines can rake in reader numbers that are the envy of the general interest magazines that used to dominate the market.

Bottom line, if Newsweek doesn’t find a buyer, I’ve got to urge them not to do what Gourmet magazine did (I wrote about the Gourmet mistake in my book People Buy Brands, Not Companies ). If, like Gourmet did, Newsweek decides to stop doing a paper issue, then the strengths of the magazine (as a thought-leader, namely its columnists) must be preserved through its online presence. It’s no good to simply keep the name of Newsweek without the human equity that made that brand great.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -

All the advertising in the world won’t help your company if your core business tells a different story.