Oil now stains even brands and reputations

When it was born, almost a century ago, in 1929, it gave itself a name very appropriate for those times: Cepsa, an acronym for Compañía Española de Petróleos SA. The oil industry was then one of the most thriving and technologically leading. and having that noun in the company name itself gave it an extra touch of modernity, avant-garde and positive reputation. Cepsa was a private company, and the rival with which it wanted to compete in its sector, the semi-public Campsa, born two years earlier, in 1927, also had oil in its first name: Campsa was the acronym for Compañía Alrendataria del Monopolio de Petroleos SA

Now, almost a century later, the word oil It no longer has those positive attributes. In the current collective imagination, oil is more associated with pollution, environmental deterioration and climate change. Oil now stains even brands and reputations.

Last week, Cepsa announced that it was renamed Moeve. The CEO of the company, Maarten Wetselaar, explained the reason for the change: “To tell the world that we are transforming into another type of organization, Moeve, in which most of its profits come from sustainable activities at the end of this decade ”. The new brand, Wetselaar added, “reflects our firm commitment to be a benchmark for the energy transition in Europe, especially in the field of green hydrogen, 2G biofuels and ultra-fast electric mobility.” Sustainability, energy transition, green hydrogen… New terms with a positive reputation for today’s public replace the already worn-out ones.

In the names of the rest of the major oil companies operating in Spain there are still traces of oil. Repsol was born as a brand in 1968, and at first it referred to an engine lubricant manufactured by the company, which was then called Refinería de Petróleos de Escombreras. BP is the acronym of the previous name, British Petroleum, created in the 1950s. It was born under the name of Anglo-Persian Oil Company, in Iran, in 1908. Galp, Portuguese by origin, is the heir to two companies created after the Carnation Revolution of 1974: Petrogal and Gas of Portugal.

Will any of them abandon the future? p oil whistleblower, to look for names more in line with the new values ​​of society? It is possible. Or not, you never know. Each brand has its own life, and the perceptions with which the public receives them, the attributes they transmit, evolve for better or worse. And if there is one thing that absolutely all large companies do, it is to measure those perceptions, those attributes to the millimeter. But if one, Cepsa, has already moved, it is very likely that the rest are already wondering what to do.