EXXONMOBIL

What is Honest Energy?

Honesty. The plan here is to be upfront to the public – in reality we will be telling people what they already know. The reality is that Big Oil will probably never be viewed favorably – so the point is to look better than the rest. 

Objective:

ExxonMobil’s Honest Energy campaign is designed to reposition the perception of ExxonMobil, amongst other multi-national energy corporations, and the general public as a whole from negative to positive using a strategy of honest, self-effacing, and strongly toned yet simple advertisements. The goal is to look better then the rest. To be more explicit, ExxonMobil doesn’t need to rebrand but reposition.

Concept:

All of my ads talk to the viewer. I wanted to make an ad taking blame for Valdez - nothing too visceral, with copy making the the ad’s purpose clear. Think of this as the “past”, with the other ads being the "now" and "future". I put all of the past and present logos side by side to be as transparent as possible. I bring attention to this in the copy (while also comparing us to BP and their logo change after their oil spill). I then would explain our positive position for the future – harping on environmentalism and plugging the website.

Strategy II:

Honest Energy will be a global campaign. Transparent to all of the world markets where ExxonMobil intends to make an impact.

Concept:

I pictured the campaign’s logo – Honest Energy – in every language. I thought of when you scroll though your phone when it is brand new and have to pick a language. ExxonMobil never changes, just Honest Energy. Expanding on this, I wanted to make the same ad but three times, each in a different language. This would just be a sample as this can be made in all languages.

Strategy III:

The Exxon Tiger will get a real life makeover - emphasizing ExxonMobil's partnership with WWF's Save The Tiger Fund and similar collaborations – a crucial element in showing Exxon as having a positive, not a negative, relationship with the environment . This will also be global.

Concept:

I wanted to let the tiger do the work for us. Nothing could be more powerful then a beautiful tiger, especially not a cartoon one. It was also important that the tiger be calm and majestic – not running or fierce. A natural tiger is also important to emphasize Exxon's altruism with the Save the Tiger Fund. To show the global side of things I pictured the ads sub-copy being in different languages. This concept can be played out with other wildlife funds – such as the Otter.