Marketing Big Oil: Brand Lessons from the World's Largest Companies

For the largest oil companies – referred to as Big Oil – branding and brand management are complex, due to the historical negativity surrounding the original Big Oil company – Standard Oil. Even though today's largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron, have spent millions on improving their corporate brand image and reputation, negativity continues to surround these firms.

Marketing Big Oil begins with an historical perspective looking at how Big Oil came to be through a series of monumental acquisitions, first through the breakup of Standard Oil in the late 19th century and then with the large mergers and acquisitions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Robinson analyzes the marketing and corporate branding programs of these oil titans to demonstrate what does and doesn't work, and shows us how even the largest companies sometimes fail to get their message across. He explores the industry's use of social media, mobile e-commerce, advertising, app development, and more.