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need to identify those service stations with BP. More generally, the petroleum industry
faced the challenge of establishing brand loyalty for nearly identical products in global
markets, while doing so with the appearance of greater corporate accessibility and
environmental responsibility (Wild, 2002; Macalister, 2000).
The BP branding campaign that the idea of authentic communication as a
commodity remains important in advertising. Indeed, creating and managing such
“transparency,” or the ability to hear and respond to criticism from consumers and others,
is central to the BP branding project. Andrew Welch, client director at brand agency
Landor, which works for BP, explains:
The traditional stigma associated with the oil industry was that it was a closed
shop, a large corporate monolith with the inability to interact with lots of
stakeholders. When energy is presented as a benefit rather than a product, an oil
company merits the right to enter into dialogue with its customers. It’s not about
what you do but about how you do it. (Petroleum, 2002, emphasis added)
In this case, authenticity becomes a commodity to sell to potential consumers as the sign
of “trust.” That means that the new logo is central to persuading gasoline consumers to
accept intended message that BP is their “environmental ally” (Heller, 2000). What
seems like a pro-social turn is also driven by a profit-motive: BP’s revenues, which were
strong before the branding campaign, soared from $83.5 billion in 1999 to $148 billion in
2000 (Kaye, 2001). Referring to the new branding campaign, BP chief executive John
Browne said, “It’s all about increasing sales, increasing margins, and reducing costs at
the retail sites.” He added that BP is bigger than McDonald’s with 28,000 gas stations
around the globe (Maclean, 2000).
Convention