Chevron’s New Branding Campaign

Rebranding a company is an enterprise I’ve undertaken dozens, probably hundreds of times.  The game here, of course, is to align the client’s organization with something that already exists in customers’ minds.

Here we see Chevron calling itself the “human energy company,” connoting, I suppose, that it exists to provide all human beings with reliable and affordable energy.  Sounds fine.

The ad seen above offers a free newsletter, promising to transform its readers into “energy insiders.”   That’s where I become suspicious–and actually resentful.

What type of gullible fool trusts an oil giant to guide him fairly and honestly through the issues that surround our energy future–one that is inextricably connected with global warming, and several other environmental catastrophes like ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, and lung disease?