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Buyers Pick Brand Benefits Over Price At The Pump

  • Ad Age, Monday, April 21, 2008 10:14 AM
Big oil's branding pushes are beginning to pay off. Marking a turnaround after a decade of decline, consumers now more often cite product performance as a reason to buy a given brand of gasoline, according to NPD Group analyst David Portalatin. Given record prices, it's "a little surprising," Portalatin says.

Earlier, oil companies were distracted by a flurry of massive mergers, which created giants such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. "Now they're advertising the quality of their differentiated products," Portalatin says, "and the ad messages are working."

That's not to say the gasoline giants don't still have a way to go. Collectively, they commanded a 40% share in the U.S. through 2007, but discount outlets such as Wal-Mart and Costco and supermarkets such as Kroger have experienced a significant jump in recent years in retail gasoline share, reaching a combined 13% at year's end.

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