BP seem to take their marketing quite seriously and their research must have told them that the BP name would fly, because not so very long ago, they removed the BP name from all their stations here and they are now all Statoil.
Actually, that is the yardstick these days for me to recognise that I have arrived in Northern Ireland. When when you are travelling along the main road from Dublin to Belfast - a big BP station just inside the border NI.
God alone know who buys petrol in it, as it is far cheaper here than in NI.
I think there is a fair amount. I know a number of intelligence people who truly believe that Chevron’s “Techron” additive is absolutely essential to their car’s continued well being. I’m guessing that there many NASCAR fans who are loyal to 76, cause that’s “what the pros use” (never mind that it is a contractual obligation). Of course there’s also people who buy gas at a particular station cause they have their gas card and they get bonus points or rebates or whatever. If building a brand identity for a particular company’s gasoline didn’t work, I don’t think you’d see most every major company doing it…
I always get gas at the local independent “cheap station” myself…
And while we’re at it, what do they now call the BP building in Cleveland, which was ironically abandoned when BP bought Amoco, and moved their NA headquarters from Cleveland to Chicago?
I heard about it when I was back there to visit last year. Here is a cite:
"The Sears Tower is no longer Sears’ headquarters, and Chicago’s second-tallest building, the former Amoco Tower, has been renamed the Aon Center since Amoco was bought by BP and its former headquarters dismantled. "