BP rebrand: beyond the pretty petal

An iconoclastic throwback to the misguided optimism of the 60s – that was my first impression on seeing BP's new corporate identity back in 2000.

The sunflower, the latest incarnation, was conceived by design agency Landor Associates and launched in the summer of a new millennium. It caused quite a stir. It carries some elements of the former green shield logo, but goes a lot further in re-positioning BP as a more eco-conscious and progressive company.

New models give higher value to oil companies and their retail brands

Location, location, location - the oldest cliché in the book about Retail. Get the right outlet with the right products in the right place and the customers and the profits just roll in! And in the petroleum sector it has to be even truer surely. Right road, right traffic flow, well positioned petrol station - Bingo! Well yes of course location is vital - that's why the real estate costs so much when a site on a busy highway or on a motorway is released or sold. But as every retailer knows the trick is always to maximise the returns - to secure volume and income which exceeds expectations and provides business higher than the "case" assumption (the assumption that underpinned the original investment). This article is about that extra, that bonus level of return that can turn a good site or network into a great one.

Reputation Management

The maintenance of a good corporate reputation in today's febrile multimedia age is no easy task - not least because the needs of a company's various stakeholders are all too often contradictory. Investors may seek cost efficiencies which boost earnings and dividends whilst employees seek job security. The need to boost the resource base, especially for oil and gas companies, will often conflict with the needs of local communities and environmentalists. And in some industries, like tobacco, the very nature of the business activity itself can be hard to defend and virtually incapable of being painted in a positive light. So does that mean that there are no firm guidelines that can be established to help companies manage their reputation - is it all too difficult? This article will argue that the reverse is the case - so long as companies understand that brand management and reputation management are the same thing - and so long as they have an imperative to integrate what they say with what they do - and then tell the truth. And as long as they have the confidence not to have their reputation management decisions taken by lawyers!

Solar Energy Review

Italy
Agip’s part solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) powered petrol station is a particularly attractive green energy proposition since Italy has moderately high solar radiation but also high energy prices where conventional energy source prices and solar energy prices are roughly equal per kW/hour.

Spain

The Repsol car wash outside Madrid airport features flat plate solar thermal panels which preheat the water used for washing cars. Using this relatively low tech, low cost solar thermal energy collecting device, Repsol are able to save the cost of heating the water by conventional means (electric or gas) and therefore also reduce carbon emissions and as a bonus gain a valuable PR advantage. How simple and effective but also quite obvious for a nation famous for its sunny climate.

Spain have also invested heavily in solar PV as illustrated above with a sophisticated solar tracking device on a Galp petrol station.

Brands that endure…When to revolutionise and when to evolve

In the twenty-first century we are accustomed to the idea that many products, as distinct from brands, have very short life cycles. Take for example the car shown right in the photograph. It is a BMW (the “parent” brand) 3-Series (the “sub-brand”) from around 1975. If we compare this vehicle with the latest version of the same brand, shown on the left, about the only point of recognition is the BMW logo on the bonnet. We find nothing unusual or exceptional about the evolution of a product over thirty years with that product retaining, over all of this time, exactly the same brand descriptor. There have been five different versions of the BMW 3-Series since 1975 each of which was an evolutionary leap forward from its predecessor but all of which have been aimed at precisely the same target market – the successful professional who wants a combination of performance, comfort and prestige. The product life-cycle is about six years – the brand life-cycle much, much longer than that. Each successive iteration of the 3-Series brand offered the consumer new benefits - both practical and emotional - it is never enough just to update the features of a brand, the styling for example. What BMW offer every six years or so are benefit enhancements which give the consumer more – the cars become safer, more economical and easier to drive as well as conferring more self-esteem on the buyer from their appearance and their novelty.

Helios Hits the Streets

The new BP station at Hammersmith (West London) featuring the new image opened in December to much media and industry acclaim. Many revolutionary features of the new site including the latest "Thin Film" solar panels that are applied to the single skin, barrel vault glass canopy. This enables filtered light to be transmitted whilst generating electricity that can be used on site and / or fed back to the grid. The pumps are futuristically styled, all singing (They actually do speak ) multi product units that are a departure from the monolithic    "Monocolumn" designs of old. As such they would offer a saving although

perhaps not enough to overcome the additional expense of the sophisticated canopy.