• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 9, 2018

Oil and gas giant BP has selected WPP as its “preferred partner” for marketing communication services for its Corporate, Fuels, and Castrol businesses globally.

The award follows a review that began last year. WPP is a long-time BP incumbent, but the two firms are now creating a new model for their work together going forward.

The holding company has formed Team Energy, created specifically for BP, which will provide services including advertising, media (including digital), marketing communication and branding, PR and brand research.

For the assignment Team Energy will draw holding company resources from agencies including VML, Ogilvy, Mindshare, Grey, Essence, SocialLabs and Landor. Programmatic, search and ecommerce services will also be provided.

Team Energy will be based in London and have offices around the globe.

Geoff Morrell, group head of communications and external affairs at BP stated, “as we enter our third decade of our relationship, we have agreed on a completely new way of working to enable easy access to the best talent and ideas that WPP has to offer. We are excited by the possibilities this creates.”

Andrew Scott, Co-COO at WPP added, “Our bespoke vision for BP is a clear demonstration of how we see the future—delivering agile, responsive and impactful services that drive results and help realize the client’s growth ambitions.”

BP, which had nearly $45.5 billion in revenue last year, does not break out its marketing or advertising related expenses in its annual report.  But it reportedly spent $500 million trying to fix the damage done to its brand over a two year period in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.