{ADbitious} BP and the Oily Helios Logo

When British Petroleum (BP) merged with Amoco in 1998 to form BP Amoco, the British petroleum company enlisted the help of Landor for their rebranding. This was huge because previous acquisitions of Arco and Castrol equated a Fortune 10 company, with over 100,000 employees spanning over 100 countries.

The idea: “performance, environmental leadership, innovation and progressive ideas.”

The advertising executives described the new prospect as,

Landor recommended that the name BP be kept, that the new BP present itself as being greater than British Petroleum, and that BP become a single global brand. The Helios mark was developed, symbolizing the newly merged company. Bright and bold, the identity evokes natural forms and energy that represent, respectively, BP’s position as an environmental leader and its goal of moving beyond the petroleum sector. These concepts were then extended to a series of programs that included development of retail stations, corporate environments, signage, marketing, and merchandising. In 2003, BP ranked no. 69 in BusinessWeek’s most valuable global brand. In 2010 it was named one of the most relevant identities of the decade by the blog Brand New.

The logo was considered the one of the brightest productions to come out of Landor San Francisco by some and also a horrendous twist of “greenwashing” by others.

It was near perfect advertising.

Landor was praised for creating what made the Mad Men famous in the 1960s — the art of illusion, belief and creating perception in advertising.

In fact, in 2008, logo enthusiasts on Logo Designed Love, said,

“It’s very clean, simple, energetic, symmetrical, fresh and was WAY ahead of it’s time. Especially with the “everything is green” effort that is being crammed down our throats. Oh, and the colors are beautiful and harmonious as well. I actually don’t like BP gas, but I love the logo every time I see it. I never get sick of it.”

…but oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Greenpeace, the organization aimed at conserving, creating and nurturing a better Blue Planet for tomorrow, is asking fans and angered citizens alike to take the beloved Helios and create a new logo for BP more fitting of their current image instead.

This is in light of the terrible oil spill, that CNN has dubbed a “Pandora’s Box,” that has taken over a month to fix and had created a state of havoc for the ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico.

Greenpeace is holding a contest for the BP logo redesign. The winner will get their prized piece of slick art incorporated into Greenpeace’s campaign against the oil company as well as a Greenpeace “goodie bag.”

This is not going to help their public relations catastrophe, that’s for sure.

Are you surprised this contest came about?

I’m not.

If not Greenpeace, then it would have been someone else. Plus, for the second time around, I am not entirely sure that Landor or anyone can help the company.

How can man put another man on the Moon,  but cannot plug a busted pipe they created themselves?

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Sasha Muradali runs the ‘Little Pink Book’ . She holds a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida with a minor in Dance (’07) and an M.A. in International Administration from the University of Miami (’08). She loves Twitter and all things social media, so you should find her @SashaHalima or get a copy of the ‘Little Pink Book’ delivered to your Kindle and don’t forget to check out the Mad Women.

Copyright © 2009-2010 Sasha H. Muradali. All Rights Reserved.