Aral
1972
Updating quality
Aral, Germany’s leading petrol retailer, was falling behind in the mid 70s. Its brand had not kept pace, in quality and sophistication, with foreign competitors. In the days when people believed some petrols were better than others, Aral was considered the best in Germany. But when petrol became more clearly a commodity, the character of petrol stations became paramount in the battle for customers. Shell and BP streamlined their sites, leaving Aral looking old fashioned. How could it catch up without losing the established feeling of quality?
Maximum impact, minimal change
Wolff Olins set out to achieve as much impact as possible with minimum change. The lozenge sign and blue and white livery underwent a subtle development: rounding the shapes and brightening the tone. None of these details disturbed Aral’s traditions. Yet they did supplant old-fashioned associations of petrol stations as messy and mechanical and replaced them with a modern retail identity. These changes allowed Aral the flexibility to transfer its reputation to new activities far removed from petrol, such as mini markets, restaurants and campsites.
New identity, increased sales
Increased sales followed every time an outlet was treated to the new identity. Aral gained a distinctive, modern character that was fully consistent with its tradition of quality. This was unique at the time. The German public started to see Aral’s retail identity as strong and valid as those of the best supermarket chains. Twenty-five years later, our work is still in use.
