Matt Gobush and Biofuels
Matt Gobush, manager of corporate communications at ExxonMobil, delivered an interesting presentation regrading public policy and communication. His responsibilities include the corporation's executive speech program, energy policy blog, shareholder publications, internal communications, opinion research and functional and regional communications. Gobush first emphasized the importance of communicating with the target audience, there public relations goes beyond the general public.
"Understand your audience and who you are trying to reach out to," said Gobush. Gobush explained that ExxonMobile's intentions lie in appealing to the policymakers. "We appeal to the policymakers media diet," said Gobush. Understanding the audience led to extensive research that involved channeling messages.
Gobush's research concluded that 97 percent of senate candidates have websites, 75 percent of reporters get ideas for stories in blogs, 70 members of congress have created Twitter accounts and reporters blog 2 to 3 times per week. Gobush extended that his purpose calls to "convince and persuade policymakers through good corporate citizenship."Current issues that interest policymakers include community outreach, educational programs and the environment. Naturally, ExxonMobile recently introduced algae biofuels to replace traditional oil. This initiative appeals to policymakers and facilitates a positive reputation for the oil company.
"We have invested 600 million dollars over the next 5 years to a research project for producing algae biofuel and decoding the genome. Algae eats carbon dioxide whereas ethanal produces carbon dioxide emissions," said Gobush. Gobush passionately spoke of science behind algae biofuels, however, he did state that, "science takes time."
Though communication of these environmental initiatives seem sincere on ExxonMobile's website, how extensive and sincere is this environmental project? There seems to be a gap in words and action to implement change. If ExxonMobile wanted to truly see change, the corporation would dedicate more money and time to biofuels.
I think oil companies should stop drilling and start dedicating their hours to research. Continuing to profit from the same source of error will only continue to debilitate our environment, our health and our wildlife. I understand that change takes time, however, I would like to see more of an effort by those who have the man power and dollars to back it up.
"Understand your audience and who you are trying to reach out to," said Gobush. Gobush explained that ExxonMobile's intentions lie in appealing to the policymakers. "We appeal to the policymakers media diet," said Gobush. Understanding the audience led to extensive research that involved channeling messages.
Gobush's research concluded that 97 percent of senate candidates have websites, 75 percent of reporters get ideas for stories in blogs, 70 members of congress have created Twitter accounts and reporters blog 2 to 3 times per week. Gobush extended that his purpose calls to "convince and persuade policymakers through good corporate citizenship."Current issues that interest policymakers include community outreach, educational programs and the environment. Naturally, ExxonMobile recently introduced algae biofuels to replace traditional oil. This initiative appeals to policymakers and facilitates a positive reputation for the oil company.
"We have invested 600 million dollars over the next 5 years to a research project for producing algae biofuel and decoding the genome. Algae eats carbon dioxide whereas ethanal produces carbon dioxide emissions," said Gobush. Gobush passionately spoke of science behind algae biofuels, however, he did state that, "science takes time."
Though communication of these environmental initiatives seem sincere on ExxonMobile's website, how extensive and sincere is this environmental project? There seems to be a gap in words and action to implement change. If ExxonMobile wanted to truly see change, the corporation would dedicate more money and time to biofuels.
I think oil companies should stop drilling and start dedicating their hours to research. Continuing to profit from the same source of error will only continue to debilitate our environment, our health and our wildlife. I understand that change takes time, however, I would like to see more of an effort by those who have the man power and dollars to back it up.
