BP corporate and retail brands
[edit]Corporate branding
BP Amoco changed its name to BP in 2000, and introduced a new corporate slogan: “Beyond Petroleum.” It replaced its “Green Shield” logo with the Helios symbol, a green and yellow sunflower pattern similar to the emblem of the Green Party of Canada. These changes were intended to highlight the company’s interest in alternative and environmentally friendly fuels. In July 2006, critics pointed to the relative lack of press coverage about a spill of 270,000 gallons of crude oil that spread into the Alaskan tundra. Critics noted this as evidence that BP had successfullygreenwashed its image, while maintaining environmentally unsound practices.[134][135]
In 2008, BP was awarded a satirical prize, the "Emerald Paintbrush" award, by Greenpeace UK. The "Emerald Paintbrush" award was given to BP in order to highlight its alleged greenwashing campaign. Critics point out that while BP advertises its relatively minimal investment in alternative energy sources, the majority of its investments continue to go into fossil fuels.[136] BP was also one nominee for the 2009 Greenwash Awards.[137]
[edit]BP
Until 31 December 1998 the company was formally registered as the British Petroleum Company plc. In January 1999 following a merger the company took on the Amoco name.[138] The new name BP Amoco plc was retained until May 2001.[139][140] The transition to the BP plc name was managed by BP's advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather and PR consultants, Ogilvy PR. The change of name culminated in BP's new logo and re-branding in the first quarter of 2001.[141]
The Helios logo (Helios is the name of the Greek sun god), represents energy in its many forms. The company owns the two letter internet domain bp.com, which the company registered 10 November 1989. BP is among the earliest brands to own such a short domain name.[142] BP's tagline is "Beyond Petroleum"; according to the company this represents their focus on meeting the growing demand for fossil fuels, manufacturing and delivering more advanced products, and enabling the material transition to a lower carbon future.[143]
By the end of July 2010, independent BP station owners reported sales down 10 to 40 percent in the quarter after the Gulf oil spill and, while some hoped BP would return to the Amoco brand once used by many of the stations, others considered that would be a gamble because BP put so much effort into the brand.[144]
[edit]ampm
Main article: ampm
ampm is a convenience store chain with branches located in several U.S. states including Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, recently in Illinois, Indiana, Georgia and Florida, and in several countries worldwide such as Japan. In the western US, the stores are usually attached to an ARCO gas station; elsewhere, the stores are attached to BP gas stations. BP Connect stations in the US are transitioning to the ampm brand.
[edit]Aral
In Germany and Luxembourg, BP operates its petrol retail chain under the name Aral after acquiring the majority of Veba Öl AG in 2001 and rebranding almost all of its BP filling stations to Aral.
[edit]ARCO
Main article: ARCO
ARCO is BP's retail brand on the US West Coast in the seven Western states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, and Utah. BP acquired ARCO (formerly the Atlantic Richfield Company) in 2000. ARCO is a popular "cash only" retailer, selling products refined from Alaska North Slope crude at the Cherry Point Refinery in Washington, a plant in Los Angeles, and at other contract locations on the West Coast.
[edit]BP Travel Centre
BP Travel Centres are large scale destination sites located in Australia which on top of offering the same features of a BP Connect site with fuel and a Wild Bean Cafe, also feature major food-retail tenants such as McDonald's, KFC, Nando's and recently Krispy Kreme, with a large seating capacity food court. There are also facilities for long-haul truck drivers including lounge, showers and washing machines all in the same building. There are 4 travel centres located in South East Queensland: two on the Pacific Highway (Coomera andStapylton) and two on the Bruce Highway (Caboolture). A fifth travel centre was opened in 2007 at Chinderah in northern New South Wales.
[edit]BP Connect
BP Connect is BP's flagship retail brand name with BP Connect Service stations being operated around the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other parts of the world. BP Connect sites feature the Wild Bean Cafe, which offers cafe-style coffee made by the staff and a selection of hot food as well as freshly baked muffins and sandwiches. The food offered in Wild Bean Cafe varies from each site. BP Connect sites usually offer table and chair seating and often an Internet kiosk. In the US, the BP Connect concept is gradually being transitioned to the ampm brand and concept. Some BP Connect sites around the UK ran in partnership with Marks & Spencer with the on-site shop being anM&S Simply Food instead of a BP Shop.
[edit]BP Express
BP Express was the flagship BP brand prior to the introduction of BP Connect in 2000. There are still some BP Express sites operating around the world but most have been either upgraded to Connect or changed to an alternative brand. BP Express offers a bakery service but doesn't have the selection of food offered in the Wild Bean Cafe and usually coffee is only available through a self service machine.
In the Netherlands BP is opening unmanned stations with no shops or employees. These stations are called BP Express.[145] Some of these stations used to be 'ordinary' BP stations, some are new to the BP network. Apart from these stations BP Express shopping does also exist in the Netherlands.
[edit]BP Shop
BP Shop is commonly used on smaller, mainly independently owned sites. Products vary in each BP Shop but consist usually of a selection of convenience store-style food and automotive products.
[edit]BP 2go
BP 2go is a franchise brand used for independently operated sites in New Zealand and is currently being rolled out throughout Australia (although not all BP 2go stores are franchises in Australia). BP 2go sites mainly operate in towns and outer suburbs in New Zealand. BP 2go offers similar bakery food to BP Connect but in a pre-packaged form. Some BP Express sites around New Zealand and Australia that were considered too small to be upgraded to BP Connect were given the option to change to BP 2go; others were downgraded to BP Shop. Staff at some BP 2go sites wear a different style of uniform to the rest of the BP branded sites; however in company-owned and operated 2go sites in Australia the same uniform is worn across all sites.
[edit]Castrol
Castrol is a brand of motor oil and other lubricants which is entirely a BP brand but tends to retain its separate identity.
[edit]Air BP and BP Shipping
Air BP is the aviation fuel arm, BP Marine the marine fuels and lubricants arm, and BP Shipping is the shipping arm within the BP group.
BP Shipping provides the logistics to move BP's oil and gas cargoes to market, as well as marine structural assurance[146] on everything that floats in the BP group. It manages a large fleet of vessels most of which are held on long-term operating leases. BP Shipping's chartering teams based in London, Singapore, and Chicago also charter third party vessels on both time charter and voyage charter basis.
The BP-managed fleet consists of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), one North Sea shuttle tanker, medium size crude and product carriers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, and coasters. All of these ships are double-hulled.[147]
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