In a world saturated by advertising with no surface left “uncovered”, I was the least bit surprised to see an ad of sorts for BP with a suggestion to use their fuel on the Edge’s fuel cap. On my most recent visit to the pump I noticed the tagline, “Ford Recommends BP” inscribed on the black fuel cover cap. I wonder what kind of deal Ford got out of selling the fuel cover as ad space. Even more interesting would be the data on whether it actually made an impact on consumer fuel choices?
Alison Steinlauf Anziska, Marketing Coordinator @ 14,062 miles.
ahightower says:
05:49 PM, 12/10/07
That seems kind of wrong. Some folks who don't know any better are going to think BP is required for best performance or something.
firstwagon says:
06:44 PM, 12/10/07
What is "BP"?
z479 says:
07:25 PM, 12/10/07
I believe it's a gas station company. I have never seen one in Upstate or Rochester, NY areas, so I don't know what Ford expects those customers to do....even though gasoline is gasoline
dderosa says:
07:37 PM, 12/10/07
BP used to stand for British Petroleum. Then I think it was Beyond Petroleum. I've seen them on the East Coast. I believe it also includes Arco now and Castrol. -- Donna
firstwagon says:
07:49 PM, 12/10/07
Interesting. Never seen one.
Heard of Arco but the only one around here closed. The only Castrol I know is chain store motor oil.
altimadude00 says:
07:54 PM, 12/10/07
Talk about a shameless plug.
carfreak8394 says:
08:18 PM, 12/10/07
BP is around here in southern Florida.
As far as I know, it replaced Mobil.
But I'm not sure.
Kind of weird for Ford to do that though..
estreka says:
08:38 PM, 12/10/07
BP exists up here in Montana, but even here they're few and far between.
I never saw one in Texas. I don't remember seeing one when I lived in Cali, either.
mjd1123 says:
09:10 PM, 12/10/07
There are lots of BP stations in the New York City area. Amoco stations all became BP a few years ago.
mopar424 says:
11:14 PM, 12/10/07
BP bought out Mobile and whoever they were with (Texaco?). HUGE in Florida, as in, every corner. I literally, LOLed when I saw this same gas cap on my friend's Mustang. Is GM going to start recommending Shell?
estreka says:
11:50 PM, 12/10/07
Exxon bought Mobil in '99.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobil
echobravo says:
07:55 AM, 12/11/07
There were BPs in Pittsburgh when I lived there (off & on between the late 80s and 2000 or so). There are also a handful of both BPs and Arcos here in the Phoenix area.
And yeah, Ford... That's lame. ahightower is right. People who don't frequent auto blogs might think they NEED to use BP gasoline for some reason.
nwfmlymn says:
09:16 AM, 12/11/07
BP is all over Ohio. When our corporations get corporate sponsors, the next thing you know, we'll have a starbucks in the starbucks men's room.
stingray454 says:
12:24 PM, 12/11/07
Some of these companies have no shame. At Laguardia airport in NY, American Airlines sold all their advertising space for their jetway ramps at the terminal to HSBC. Doesn't say AA or American at all on them anymore. I was like I didn't know HSBC owns American Airlines! Effective advertising for HSBC. Cheezy for American.
greenpony says:
12:34 PM, 12/11/07
I was just thinking about this the other morning, and I wonder if it's just a shameless advertisement, or if Ford actually has data showing there is a real reason for the recommendation. In my line of work, we don't "recommend" anything unless we have data to back it up. (Otherwise we merely "suggest"). Interestingly enough, BP is NOT recognized as a "top tier" provider.
What surprised me most is that many of you have never heard of or seen BP. BP is one of the world's major oil companies (along with Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Conoco Phillips, for example). BP is based in England; they apparently own BP and ARCO gas stations and Castrol motor oil.