ORLANDO, Fla. -- BP Products North America Inc. is investing $500 million in its U.S. retail brand over the next two years and is rolling out what it calls an "aggressive" campaign "to reclaim the title as the leading fuels marketer east of the Rockies."
A distinctive fuel offer, improved customer experience and a more compelling loyalty rewards program are at the foundation of BP's 2012 marketing plan, which it announced at the 2012 BP Amoco Marketers Association (BPAMA) Convention & Business Expo in Orlando, Fla., this week.
"In 2012 and beyond, BP's commitment to its branded marketers will be second to none in our industry," said Doug Sparkman, president of BP's East of Rockies Fuels Value Chain. "Our top-quality fuel offer, improved consumer rewards programs and exclusive energy sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Committee and Team USA all point to this year's convention theme of 'winning together' through teamwork and collaboration with our branded customers."
At the heart of BP's branded fuel offer in 2012 is the re-launch of BP gasoline with Invigorate. The revamped advertising campaign will emphasize the increased mileage benefits of continuous use of Invigorate compared to low-detergency fuels.
An integrated marketing campaign around Invigorate is slated to launch in the first quarter and extend through the greater part of the year. The campaign will feature a rotation of the company's first new fuels-related TV commercials since 2009. The Invigorate marketing plans also include a "robust" schedule of spot radio, digital support, local public relations activation and refreshed point-of-purchase materials.
"BP's value proposition to consumers is clearer and more relevant than ever," said Kevin Phelan, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "We've invested a lot of time and hard work to ensure that our offers and communications reflect a keen understanding of what consumers truly want and how we can best motivate them to choose BP. We believe our Invigorate campaign will do that in 2012."
Another major announcement coming out of the convention was BP's confirmation of a March 1 launch of its Pump Rewards payment technology. This new technology allows BP customers to instantly redeem cents-per-gallon rebates by rolling back the price that appears at the gasoline pump. Pump Rewards marks a significant advancement in how retailers can reward consumers and encourage brand loyalty, the company said.
The March launch will mark the rollout of several new initiatives that marketers can use to leverage the technology, which the company said is the first of its kind. These include the ability to distribute one-time-use rebate numeric codes that can be entered directly at the pump and the option to produce third-party direct and bulk promotional cards that customers can personalize for their own site offers.
BP also discussed its plans to launch a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to support the Pump Rewards program as well as an aggressive effort to properly train customer service representative staff across the network. Currently, BP expects to lead nearly 900 training sessions at retail to help educate staff on the Pump Rewards technology and prepare them to support its use and handle consumer inquiries.
In other news, BP's Fueling Communities Grant Program, an initiative that helped donate more than $3 million dollars to over 400 community organizations nominated exclusively by BP's branded marketers last year, will return in 2012 with even greater application. The program will continue to offer customers the opportunity to build and strengthen community relationships, but for the first time it will leverage BP's sponsorship of the U.S. Olympics Committee and allow BP branded marketers to elect for special activation packages that provide customized resources to support Paralympic Sports Clubs in their regions.
BP owns exclusive rights as the official energy sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Committee and Team USA through 2016.
Savannah, Ga.-based BPAMA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to representing the collective voice of BP jobber marketers. It is made up of more than 400 BP-branded marketers representing 10,000 retail locations.
London-based BP, with U.S. headquarters in Warrenville, Ill., markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through more than 10,000 BP- and ARCO-branded retail outlets and supplies more than four billion gallons of fuel annually to fleets, industrial users, auto and truck manufacturers, railroads and utilities. BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol.
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