BP’s brand identity is a much referred to example – not least by us – of the effective use of rebranding to reposition a company and communicate a new strategy. Their original brand from the 1920s was a, occasionally tweaked, shield reflecting the rather colonial feel of ‘British Petroleum’. This was ditched in favour of softer, lower case bp initials to now represent ‘beyond petroleum’ and a new, almost floral and definitely ‘greener’ logo:
“BP is progressive, responsible, innovative and performance driven. Our logo – the Helios – symbolizes these values. Named after the Greek sun god, the Helios represents energy in its many forms. Of all the forms of energy that make up BP and its services, perhaps the most vital is the human energy our people bring to everything we do. This is what fuels our brand.” A brand consistently applied and brilliantly effective as a tool to reflect the transition away from an ugly oil company to a progressive energy business.
One of our other favourite references is a quote from brand guru Wally Olins “In everything the organisation does, owns and produces it should project a clear idea of what it is. This is achieved by consistency in purpose, performance and appearance.” It seems BP forgot the very first part of this basic principle of delivering on the brand promise.
BP are looking more and more culpable by the day with this weekend’s Sunday Times reporting that over zealous cost-cutting “Four successive accidents in America in 2005 and 2006 had shredded BP’s reputation” these included the Texas City oil refinery explosion that killed 15. Now t
he environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which also claimed 11 lives, may well drag the BP brand into the same kind of murky and deadly waters the pelicans and dolphins are trying to avoid.
However beautiful your logo, if your organisation does ugly things, if it doesn’t ‘walk the talk’ and if it doesn’t deliver on its promises then it will become a symbol tarred by those failings and will ultimately come to represent them.
