The great contemporary architects Calitrava and Foster have both designed a petrol station but neither would lower themselves to apply graphics. At least Foster applied colour in an ingenious way for Repsol’s mushroom canopies but Calitrva only gave us pointless and gratuitous arches superimposed on to a regular petrol station that serve no function than to waste material and money, a familiar criticism of Calitrava’s work. Come on guys, cannot graphic design live elsewhere than the printed and virtual world?

Texaco’s highway site outside Antwerp and BP’s ‘Eco’ site in Los Angeles are further examples of noteworthy architect designed petrol stations that have sought to push the boundaries of  accepted physical forms but totally reject branding in favour of silver /grey.

The counter argument is that great buildings do not need graphics, they speak for themselves. A well designed building is a collaboration of form and function and should to an extent express to the user how to interact with the building, where to enter, where to exit where to circulate and so on. But here’s the key, a well designed building is here to last, a 100 years or more, a good 50 more years more than the most robust petrol station that will be outdated technology and fashion wise before the steel rusts away or the plastic disintegrates.

So are petrol stations buildings at all? Perhaps petrol stations are just a three dimensional sign to which you just apply a logo and coloured stripe. This would explain why petrol stations were predominantly 2 dimensionally 'designed' by graphic designers and they all looked very much the same which is no doubt why architects saw it as their duty to redefine petrol stations according to their own sensibilities. More accurately petrol stations are mass produced lego sets to suit different site sizes so in some ways they are more akin to the cars that visit the petrol station rather than a conventional building. It's no surprise therefore neither graphic designers nor architects design the most successful of the current petrol station designs but product designers who have the most appropriate skill set.

Total’s latest motorbike dedicated stations have many features that should please all 2 wheel users including a wash feature that gets into the wheel’s spokes. Should appeal especially to Parisians, Romans and all over Asia.

We were the lead consultants and designed the layout, display structures, interiors, display cases and the outward appearance of the interactive exhibits.

The black colour statement at the Texaco stations of the 70’s and 80’s has all but disappeared with the last 2 reimaging programmes which have sought to diminish black in favour of red, possibly in response to market research that tends to equate black within the oil industry as a non environmentally friendly colour. Consequently the new Texaco stations that are being rolled out may be confused for red Esso/Exxon petrol stations. Architectural features of the new Texaco design match sister brand Chevron allowing savings in terms of rationalising components and maybe set the stage for Texaco disappearing altogether in favour of Chevron?

Coincidently, Chevron Texaco’s strategy of sharing is also apparent with their competitor Exxon Mobil whose two brands are architecturally identical except that Esso is red and Mobil is blue. Esso/Exxon also share the same ‘On the Run’ C-store which clearly adopts the philosophy ‘Why go to the bother of creating 2 C-store brands when 1 will do it better’ Which incidentally begs the question, ‘Why maintain 2 or 3 petrol station brands when 1 will do it better?’ With cost cutting the name of the game in petrol retail now perhaps we shall see more brands culled within the foreseeable future.

The new Texaco image is clearly more modern and retail but more visually fussy than the previous designs. The canopy fascia is internally illuminated which will increase energy and maintenance costs unless LEDs are used as a light source.

Surprisingly the Texaco star does not feature as strongly as previous designs on the spreader given Texaco’s slogans ‘Just look for the star’ and ‘Trust your car to the star’. More so since Caltex the other Chevron Texaco brand located in Asian markets features the angularity of the star to great effect on its stations and within the C-store name ‘Star Mart’.

Ironically while Texaco are moving away from black, other food retailers such as Marks and Spencers are seeing black’s virtues as providing both a contrast with the colour of the merchandise and background for graphics. Black floors however are problematic in that they tend to soak up light that is normally bounced back up.

The top photograph probably features a dealer owned site but what happened to 'Start Mart' which led the way in convenince retailing in the early 90's? If Texaco and Caltex will ultimately morph to Chevron then perhaps there will be no point looking for the star any more.

Brand issues should play a big part in Royal Bank of Scotland recovery plans.

The grotesque mismanagement of this huge concern by its discredited CEO Sir Fred Goodwin and his cohorts is one of the business scandals of modern times – but what can be rescued from this modern day bonfire of the vanities? I’ll leave others more qualified than I am to look at the financials of the RBS mess. But in Brand terms there is both a serious problem, but also an opportunity.
 The problem is that the RBS brand is probably fatally damaged. True it may be possible if the RBS Group gets back on an even keel for its retail subsidiary of the same name eventually to re-establish itself as a valued brand in the eyes of the consumer. But that will take time and some smart brand and reputation management. RBS may eventually recover its brand equity – but it will take many years for it to do so.

The opportunity comes from the fact that one of the earlier acquisitions in RBS’s shopping spree was the old established British Bank “National Westminster” (NatWest). NatWest has a network of over 1,500 branches in the United Kingdom and more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. It is a significant player in British retail banking and, more importantly, it has a brand identity and reputation undamaged by the turmoil and reputation disaster of its RBS parent. It could be and perhaps should be cut adrift from RBS and allowed to be re-established as a strong principally retail bank unsullied by the RBS disaster.

The new management of RBS, including its majority shareholder the British Government, should see the separate stockmarket floating of NatWest as a real opportunity to start the long process of returning RBS to the private sector. In doing so there is also an added benefit to accrue by ensuring the newly independent again NatWest can be established as a truly sound enterprise, unblemished by any residue of toxic debt and unsullied by any other uncommercial liabilities. There is no reason why the relative strength of the NatWest brand shouldn’t deliver shareholder value in excess of its fixed assets value – the classic definition of a strong brand.

Paddy Briggs
March 2010 © Minale Tattersfield

Brand issues should play a big part in Royal Bank of Scotland recovery plans.

 The problem is that the RBS brand is probably fatally damaged. True it may be possible if the RBS Group gets back on an even keel for its retail subsidiary of the same name eventually to re-establish itself as a valued brand in the eyes of the consumer. But that will take time and some smart brand and reputation management. RBS may eventually recover its brand equity – but it will take many years for it to do so.

The opportunity comes from the fact that one of the earlier acquisitions in RBS’s shopping spree was the old established British Bank “National Westminster” (NatWest), whom we worked for as their design and branding agency between 1986 to 1997. NatWest has a network of over 1,500 branches in the United Kingdom and more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. It is a significant player in British retail banking and, more importantly, it has a brand identity and reputation undamaged by the turmoil and reputation disaster of its RBS parent. It could be and perhaps should be cut adrift from RBS and allowed to be re-established as a strong principally retail bank unsullied by the RBS disaster.

The new management of RBS, including its majority shareholder the British Government, should see the separate stockmarket floating of NatWest as a real opportunity to start the long process of returning RBS to the private sector. In doing so there is also an added benefit to accrue by ensuring the newly independent again NatWest can be established as a truly sound enterprise, unblemished by any residue of toxic debt and unsullied by any other uncommercial liabilities. There is no reason why the relative strength of the NatWest brand shouldn’t deliver shareholder value in excess of its fixed assets value – the classic definition of a strong brand.

March 2010 © Minale Tattersfield