Hey Exxon! Is that new media you're wearing?

Hey look! I'm using "new media!" Wow.

So if I'm on this blog, and you're on this blog...chances are there might be others on blogs too!

According to Business Week, 40,000 blogs are started each day and 27% of Internet users read them. I'd say that's a good start.

New media must be a great way for corporations (eh hem Exxon Mobil) to grab the attention of and relate/speak to their clients or publics. Let us investigate what Exxon Mobil's got going on as far as new media to reach its customers, employees and stakeholders...

Exxon Mobil uses its Web site (http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/) pretty much the same way all other huge corporations do. The site is informative and tells visitors of all the WONDERFUL things Exxon Mobil is doing or has done. One could get lost for hours researching its global causes, its CEO’s quotes, news releases, biographies, etc. But unless you were going to the site to research the company, were really interested in the company, saw a commercial from them that you liked...or, er, were writing a blog, there isn't much that drives traffic around the site and keeps the visitor there. It’s in my opinion, a corporate bore. But wouldn’t that be weird if all of a sudden Exxon Mobil’s Web site was fun like Disney’s? Yeah, I don’t think it would work. Stick to boring boys! I will admit, the commercials are well done...as is the flash microsite.

>Viral film: Search "Exxon Mobil advertisement" or "Exxon Mobil commercial" on You Tube or Google Videos and plenty of videos will pop up. Some of these videos on certain sites generate A LOT of talk. Talk = your company's name is getting out there. The saying "no press is bad press" comes to mind here. So maybe people out there aren't exactly saying nice things...one blogger on Wheels World says: "ExxonMobil say they are proud sponsors of CEI (the 'think tank' Competitive Enterprise Institute). And why shouldn’t they be? CEI fights for the cause of ‘freedom,’ whatever that means. It’s a good thing apparently. Keep those videos in mind next if you buy Exxon/Mobil/Esso - you’re supporting crud like that." - http://neilsf.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/exxonmobil/ At least people are talking...

>Blogs: No blogs on Exxon Mobil's Web site. Tsk, tsk.

>Flash Video: Exxon Mobil’s Web site has multiple video advertisements (one could almost call them PSAs) which give the message of the importance of educating today’s youth and suggests Exxon Mobil is doing all it can to benefit the future of energy use in the world. The clips focus on a positive, motivational message and then end with the Exxon Mobil logo and a quote below it stating “taking on the world’s toughest energy challenges.” Ahh, there’s that warm fuzzy feeling that makes me want to fill up the BMW right now! There's also a flash video of the company’s Masters Campaign, and videos of its National Math and Science Initiative. Also, there are flash videos touching on Exxon Mobil’s anti-Malaria efforts which were spotlighted on a PBS program, and the company’s response to the 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes. Visit here: http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Newsroom/Multimedia/Corp_ML_Videos.asp

>Interactive Media: There are corporate advertising sections of flash and interactive media having to do with energy challenges on the company’s Web site (there is an interactive microsite). Take a look here: http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/imports/challenges_us/index.html

> RSS feed: There is a little box on the home page of the site which allows you to sign up for e-mail updates. Go ahead: https://ssl.capwiz.com/exxonmobilcorp/mlm/signup

>Comment sections: Nothing that I could find. Oh boy, if Exxon Mobil had a comment section, the site would probably crash. I think the millions of anti-Exxon blogs in cyber space are sufficient.

New media in many opinions is the way to go as far as PR nowadays. According to Microsoft. COM’s small business resources (http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/5_ways_blogging_can_help_your_business.mspx
\), such new media as blogs, webisodes and viral film engage the customer, make the company more accessible, create immediacy with customers, establish the company as an expert in the field and create an outlet for discussion between the company and its clients/customers.

Personally, I applaud Exxon Mobil's Web site. It catches my attention and keeps me engaged...probably more than the average person since I am researching the site to write this blog. But their lack of utilization of new media is disappointing for a gigantic corporation who prides itself in being cutting edge in technology and research. Were I the company's PR person, I would set up some seriously well tracked (and responded to) customer feed back sections on the Web site. I would have weekly webisodes where Exxon Mobil's CEO speaks about the current happenings at the company (one addressed to employees concerning their work, and one to external publics) so that the world could stay a little more informed about Exxon Mobil and perhaps with this addition, the company wouldn't look like the "big bad wolf" ...maybe just a little more human. And lastly, I would put virtual tours of Exxon Mobil's business process on the site. I would love to watch the process through which Exxon Mobil attains oil, transports the gasoline, and then I can just imagine the clip finishing with a handsome customer smiling at the gas pump.

Research this Exxon Mobil. Talk with your customers and nay-sayers in a blog or post a video on the site of that CEO Rex W. Tillerson in a shirt with rolled up sleeves planting a tree. The high-budget ads you make and post on your Web site just solidify your BIG OIL, better-than-thou budget when you should really be brining it down a notch with some more accessible, less costly new media.


This blog was free.

So why Exxon Mobil Chad???

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but rarely has any corporation had such a love/hate relationship with people around the globe like Exxon Mobil. No one has been more love-hated since Clinton’s “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…” But in Exxon Mobil’s case, the college dudes high-fiving the former President for playing the field are the customers who every week pull into that Exxon station to “fill-er-up,” and the boo-ers who despised Clinton for his extra-marital affair and his lies are the countless environmentalists, liberals and angry former SUV drivers who hate the prices they have to pay at the pump.


We must realize that though Exxon Mobil is synonymous with gasoline, the company is much more than just suppliers of that coveted fuel. (Please see http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/About/what_we_do.asp for more information on what exactly the company does.) And with this blog, I will explore the workings and business practices of Exxon Mobil with a particular interest in its public relations activities. After all, check out the advertisements on the Exxon Mobil Web site: http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/. Almost all of the flash videos are “feel-good” Public Service Announcements for our children’s future and what the company does to alleviate the energy crisis. Man, I hope those PR people there make plenty of $$$, because the talent they posses in minimizing negative image is way over my realm of comprehension.


The challenges the PR people at Exxon Mobil face are daily headaches of bad image caused by what some people call immoral business practices. I wouldn’t hug the CEO of any gasoline providing corporation for that matter…


But the opportunities these professionals have to improve the company’s image are incredible. We are in an energy/global warming panic now and no one could make me feel better about saving the environment than a company that supplies me with gas that was collected and distributed fairly at a reasonable price, while telling me they solar powered their tankers and pet an Alaskan baby seal while they were there. Obviously these things will not happen…but PR people are smart and will find any possible way to give me that feeling so long as they want my cash.


Why did I choose Exxon Mobil for this blog? My first paragraph says it all…When I think of a company who is HATED and seethed at, I think Exxon. I try not to buy gas there for goodness sake. But wait a hot second…they aren’t suffering in the wallet! They must being doing something right there at good ole headquarters.
My hope is that through these blog entries over the next couple months, you and I can decipher what Exxon Mobil is all about. I don’t just want to know simply why they’re hated, how great their PR group is, etc. I want to dig deeper to find a true balance in my ideas of the company. What does Exxon Mobil stand for?