Timing is Everything
Last week I wrote about having a crisis communications plan for when your competition is having a crisis.
In light of the recent events with BP in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell is taking an aggressive proactive approach touting the work they are doing to improve fuel efficiency and alternative sources of energy.
With this in mind, imagine my surprise when I saw a billboard in Atlanta announcing Gulf Oil. The Legend Is Back.
It appears that Gulf Oil, much like Shell, is trying to leverage BP’s misfortune to their advantage by expanding into the Atlanta market.
I know Gulf Oil is a reputable company – with no involvement in the current crisis – and has been serving the Northeast for decades. Unfortunately, their timing is off. I’m just not sure this is the best time to put the words “gulf” and “oil” together – especially in the South.
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Andy,
Gulf exists now only as a brand name. The company was acquired by Standard Oil of California in the 80′s.
Atlanta is a ‘distributor” market in oil company parlance with very few companies owning or operating their stations. A local distributer is “renting” the Gulf brand for his/her stations. These decisions have much more to do with cost reduction than with expansion. In this case, I haven’t seen any new outlets which would be expansionary, only conversions from other brands which is not.
Terry
Terry,
Thank you for the insight. And I understand the renting of the Gulf brand but the two words “gulf” and “oil” have such a negative connotation right now, they could have timed it better.
- Andy