SAVANNAH, Ga. -- BP gas station owners nationwide are divided over whether the major oil company, stained by its handling of the Gulf oil spill, should rebrand U.S. retail outlets as Amoco or another name as part of its effort to repair the company's badly damaged reputation, reported the Associated Press.
Some who have seen their sales plunge because of protests say BP has already sought a fresh start by naming an American, Bob Dudley, to replace its gaffe-prone British CEO, Tony Hayward, so why not change the name on gas station marquees as a further symbol of that culture [image-nocss] shift? Dudley, who will replace Hayward as CEO on October 1, worked for 20 years at Amoco Corp.
Others worry that a name change is a big deal that is risky given all the marketing dollars already spent building up the BP brand. They also believe a successful turnaround with the existing brand will have a bigger payoff.
A CSP Daily News Poll last week asked, "In your opinion, once the oil spill is cleaned up, what should new CEO Bob Dudley do to salvage the BP brand?" Of the nearly 200 respondents, nearly 31% said "de-emphasize the BP brand in favor of one of the company's other brands (Amoco, ARCO, ampm, Castrol)"; 27% said "truly embrace "Beyond Petroleum" (more aggressively pursue alternative/renewable energy)"; about 25% said "do nothing (time will "heal" the brand)"; approximately 5% said "other"; more than 4% said "sell the company (and let another company decide what, if anything, to do with it)"; more than 4% said "re-emphasize its identity as British Petroleum (de-emphasize "Beyond Petroleum")"; and nearly 4% said "it can't be saved."
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of the BP spill and its effect on the brand and its retailers.)
In the aftermath of the oil spill, some BP-branded gas stations reported sales declines of 10% to 40% from Florida to Illinois. BP later responded by offering distributors of BP gasoline cash in their pockets, reductions in credit card fees and help with more national advertising.
Another recent CSP Daily News Poll asked, "Assuming BP lost some customers over the Gulf Coast oil spill, how long do you think it will take to win those customers back?" Of the more than 175 respondents, about 41% said "months"; nearly 37% said "years"; more than 11% said "immediately"; and almost 11% said "never."
The BP name and green-and-yellow sunflower logo took over after BP merged with Amoco in the late 1990s, replacing the Amoco name and its blue-and-red torch inside an oval logo.
John Kleine, the executive director of the Savannah, Ga.-based BP Amoco Marketers Association (BPAMA), told AP that interest in changing names has not reached a fever pitch by any means, but it has supporters and is percolating among station owners ahead of their annual convention with BP executives in October.
"Is it on the minds of people? Sure," Kleine said. "It would not be a topic of conversation if not for the oil spill."
Kleine noted that many distributors would still like BP to try to rebuild its existing brand, and if that cannot be done, then to consider alternatives.
Two BP officials told AP that the company is not considering rebranding U.S. gas stations.
BP owns just a fraction of the more than 11,000 stations across the U.S. that sell its fuel mostly under the BP banner. ARCO, a BP affiliate, is predominant in the West. Kleine said the Amoco name is no longer supposed to be used, but acknowledged in rare cases it may still exist in a few locations. Most BP-branded stations are owned by local people whose primary connection to the oil company is the logo and a contract to buy gasoline.
Bob Juckniess, president of Hinsdale, Ill.-based RWJ Management, which owns 10 BP-branded stations in the Chicago area, is in the camp that wants BP to consider rebranding to Amoco at U.S. outlets, said the report. "The BP brand is very tarnished right now, not just the brand but the reputation as a company is tarnished," said Juckniess. He added, "Amoco was very well known and had a great reputation as a name and a brand."
Juckniess said he feels so strongly about the issue that he would "urge BP to look at the ramifications of such a change."
On the other side of the debate is Jeff Miller, president of Miller Oil Co. Inc., Norfolk, Va., which owns, operates and supplies approximately 56 BP-branded stations primarily in southeastern Virginia. He said that if BP does the job right and invests back in its brand and customer base, it stands to gain more by not changing the name at U.S. stations.
"When you look at all the case histories of all that have done it well, whether it is Toyota, Tylenol or Exxon, they have all reinvested in their brand and done a better job," Miller told AP. "If you just change the name and don't change the behavior, have you really gained anything?"
Miller said he has heard from a number of station owners who have suggested BP rebrand U.S. stations as Amoco, but he describes that as a "knee-jerk reaction."
"I think you get a better return by working on repairing your reputation than starting fresh," he said.
Jim Donnini, whose company owns, operates and supplies roughly 75 gas stations in Florida that fly under brands including Chevron, Exxon, Shell, Sunoco and Valero, said Amoco was a very strong brand in Florida. "Everybody thought they missed their opportunity to keep it that way," Donnini said of BP, referring to the aftermath of the Amoco merger.
Donnini, who does not own any BP stations, said he has heard from owners of BP-branded stations in Florida who would like BP to consider a name change at U.S. stations.
"It's really a shame the independent businessmen that fly that BP flag are being victimized," Donnini told the news agency.
Treehugger.com, reacting to the news of a possible rebranding, said, "Changing the name may help speed Americans' inclination to forget about the BP spill, but it obviously doesn't change any of the fundamentals behind the company's practices. Though most of those gas stations are independently owned and operated by citizens who arguably don't deserve to bear the brunt of such boycotts, it nonetheless would be a shame if BP succeeded in having its most public front to slither out of view."
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