New logo: Direct Énergie

Direct Énergie is a French power company, formed in 2003 after the energy market was opened up to private competition. In July this year it merged with another electricity company called Poweo. This presented the opportunity to introduce a new corporate identity, which was launched last week and was created by Dragon Rouge.

The new symbol is a circle, representing unity and togetherness. Its yellow colour is for warmth and optimism and the wordmark is set in rounded lowercase letters, which should convey proximity to consumers.
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New logo: Terpel

Terpel is a major Colombian oil and gas company, the largest fuel distributor in the country. This week, it unveiled a new corporate identity, developed by independent brand agency CBX. It will be launched with a gradual update of its stations network. It should be associated with values such as proximity, dynamism, modernism, service, technology, familiarity, uniqueness, solidity and reliability.

The previous logo was introduced in 2006 as an update of the sun logo used up until then. This is allegedly the fourth logo makeover in the company's history.

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New logo: Butagaz

Butagaz is a French distributor of butane and propane gas, owned by Shell. Last week, on September 20, it unveiled a new corporate identity to mark its 80th anniversary.

The previous logo was introduced in the late 80s. Its colour scheme is carried over to the predecessor, but other than that it has been completely redesigned. The company says its new logo is characterised by "roundness, lightness and fluidity" and that its is "riding a wave of modernity and innovation".
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New logo: Duke Energy

Duke Energy is one of larger electric power companies in the United States. Yesterday, September 17, it unveiled a new corporate identity a few months after completing a merger with Progress Energy, another electricity company. The new symbol looks a bit like the current Progress Energy symbol, but is said to include elements of the Duke Energy logo as well.

The new logo will not be rolled out until March and April 2013. At the same time, Progress Energy will adopt the name of its parent company.
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New logo: Energy Australia

Last year, the Australian gas and electricity company TRUEnergy acquired state-owned EnergyAustralia's retail business, including its name. As a result, the remaining electricity grid operations were renamed Ausgrid.

Recently, TRUEnergy announced that it would adopt the EnergyAustralia name and unveiled a new corporate identity. The new symbol is a glowing E, that should perhaps remind us of a compact flourescent.
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New logo: Premira

Petrolis de Barcelona is a Spanish regional hydrocarbon fuel distribution company, originally founded as a family business in 1965. Recently, the company entrusted Coleman CBX to rebrand its distribution network as it wants to communicate a focus on innovation and environment. The new consumer brand is called Premira.

The new symbol is supposed to be a combination of old and new, with the asphalt grey representing modernity and the bright hues representing sunrises and sunsets.
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New logo: YPF

When the Spanish oil company Repsol introduced a new visual identity a few weeks ago, I mentioned that the company had suffered a setback when its Argentine subsidiary YPF recently became nationalised. Around the time Repsol adopted its new look, YPF also altered its corporate identity to mark its new management. The logo now includes the Argentine flag "as a symbol of the recovery of national sense".
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New logo: Toplofikatsiya Sofia

Toplofikatsiya Sofia (Топлофикация София, meaning "District Heating Sofia") is the district heating company in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.Recently it unveiled a new logo that had been selected through a contest.

Out of 400 submissions, the jury selected an entry created by a designer named Nevena Koleva, who also got to develop her proposal once selected. It features a stylized radiator and the degree symbol. The "radiator" also somewhat resembles the first letter in the company name.
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New logo: Repsol

Repsol is a major Spanish oil and gas company with activities around the world, although it has most of its operations in Spain and Argentina. In the latter country it recently suffered a major setback when the state decided to nationalise its subsidiary, YPF. Yesterday, May 29, Repsol unveiled a strategic plan for 2012-2016, and took the opportunity to also unveil a new corporate identity.

The new logo is a further rejuvination of a corporate identity originally conceived by Wolff Olins in the late 80s. Before that, the name was used for a lubricant brand. It featured a sun, as a symbol for energy, and some lines that added "strength and movement". It was updated and simplified in 1997.

Now, the logo has been given a 3D treatment, and the colour white has permanently replaced the blue part of the symbol. The company has also adopted a custom-made typeface.

The stated aim of the refresh is to gain visibility and reflect a new vision. No specific agency has been credited, but a press release states that the rebrand project "was carried out by Repsol employees as well as external public, providers, image experts, investors, journalists and opinion leaders and is the result of a rigorous process which began in 2011".

The new identity was launched yesterday, and will be implemented across the company, including its service stations, over the coming months.
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New logo: Exelon

Exelon is major American energy utility headquartered in Chicago. Yesterday, May 24, it unveiled a new corporate identity to mark a recently completed merger with Constellation Energy. It is described as a "modern, dynamic and progressive emblem that better represents the new company".

"The new logo depicts the company name beside a symbol inspired by a flag to represent that Exelon is leading the charge. The flag has three colors inspired by Exelon’s commitment to progress, customers and sustainability. It features parallel lines to reflect the many businesses, stakeholders and perspectives working toward a common goal: driving progress for the customers and communities that the Exelon family of companies serves."

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New logo: Marathon Oil Corporation

Marathon Oil is an American oil company with origins in The Ohio Oil Company, foudned in 1887. Last year it ranked 41 on the Fortune 500 list. Last Friday, on July 1, the company was split in two. What in the petroleum business is referred to as the the upstream business (searching, recovering and producing crude oil and natural gas) stays with Marathon Oil, its subsidiary Marathon Petroleum, which included the downstream business (refining and selling oil and gas), was spun off into a separate company.

Marathon Petroleum will get to keep the logo previously used by both companies. A new logo for Marathon Oil was unveiled on June 30, and went live on various platforms when the spin-off was made official the next day.

The company claims the classic red M in a hexagon was introduced in 1962 when The Ohio Oil Company officially changed its name to the Marathon Oil Company.

The new symbol for the "Marathon Oil Corporation" is described as "an abstracted tri-color energy wave that symbolizes the momentum resulting from its upstream activity as well as the drive and innovation of the Company’s employees".

"The process for creating a new logo began in February with an employee survey. Results of the feedback emphasized eight key attributes of the Company: focused, energetic, innovative, nimble, socially responsible, ethical, driven and global. The logo was designed based on these key descriptors." - Marathon Oil Corporation press release

You can see a long animation of the new logo here.

Marathon Oil press release
Reuters

New logo: EDP Energias de Portugal

EDP Energias de Portugal is a major energy company based in Portugal. In addition to its Portuguese home market, EDP owns the Spanish energy company HC Energía and is present in the United States, Brazil, Macau and Africa. Today, July 1, EDP launched a new corporate identity, created by the New York-based designer Stefan Sagmeister.

Previous logo.

The previous "smiling" logo has been around since the middle of the last decade.It was created by the Portuguese brand consultancy Mybrand.

In its place comes a dynamic identity with a bunch of logos made up of geometric shapes. The constant elements are bright shades of red and the white wordmark in the middle, which is still lowercase, but now written with a script typeface.

Seven logo variants.

A map of Portugal
made up of icons.

Also part of the new identity is a myriad of icons, all based on the formula of the new logos and using the same red shades.

The red colour is now used all subsidiaries of the EDP group. The renewable energy division EDP Renováveis, which previously had a green version of the smile logo, is now using a red shape. The EDP name will also be introduced in Spain were it is added to the name of their local subsidiary HC Energía.

Explaining the decision to drop the previous logo, EDP president António Mexia said something to the effect that you don't need be have green logo to be green, and you don't need a smiling logo to say you are happy to interact.

Previous EDP Renovávies logo.

The following images were published by EDP.
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New logo: Kenya Power

Last week, on June 22, Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC), the Kenyan electricity provider, was rebranded by shortening its name to Kenya Power and introducing a new corporate identity. The rebrand is part of a larger strategy which includes increasing population access to electricity and making the company better in all sorts of ways.

Ogilvy & Mather East Africa, McKinney Rogers Kenya, and SBO Research Kenya are credited with the rebrand work. The new logo combines corporate aesthetics with distinctly Kenyan features.

Previus KPLC logo.

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New logo: Power NI

NIE Energy, the leading local electricity provider in Northern Ireland, is about to change its name. On June 21, it unveiled the new name "Power NI" along with its new logo, which includes a colourful circular symbol. The new name and  logo is scheduled to be rolled out starting July 25, and the two names will be used alongside each other during a transition period.

The NIE Energy logo.

At the moment, NIE Energy and its sister company Northern Ireland Electricity use the same "flying E" symbol and similar names, as they used be part of the same operation. The main reasons behind the rebrand is said to be new EU regulation that says related power suppliers and electricity grids should be branded separately, as well as the fact that NIE Energy's owner sold Northern Ireland Electricity last year.

NIE Energy supplies power to over 700,000 homes, which is 95 percent of all households in Northern Ireland.

NIE Energy - New name (archive)
NIE Energy news article (archive)
iStockanalyst

New logo: Ukrnafta

Ukrnafta is largest producer of oil and gas in the Ukraine. On Wednesday, June 8, it unveiled a new logo. The new logo is a more modern, stylized and standardized interpretation of the company's previous logo and was created by the Kiev design studio BelkaStrelka.

Previous logo.

The previous logo was a complex emblem with a drilling tower which included the initials У and Н, with two drops on the sides. The type seen above doesn't seem to have been a permanent part of the logo.
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New logo: Peabody Energy

For me, the word peabody is mostly associated with an American award for excellence in broadcasting. But it is common name, which also signifies a large coal company in Chicago. Founded 1883, it was known as the Peabody Coal Company for much of its history. Ten years ago (April 20, 2001), it changed its to the Peabody Energy Corporation. Yesterday, May 3, it presented a new corporate logo at its annual shareholders meeting.

The company claims the previous logo had been used for "more than a quarter century", and its sharp edges and black colour was inspired by coal mining. The new logo is developed from the old one, but uses softer edges, a new "Peabody Blue" color, and adds the word "Energy".

The new mark was ceated by Obata Design in St. Louis, which seems to be the company's resident design agency.



Previous logo.


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The Tepco logo - a future target for satire?

A logo is usually the primary face a corporation. If said corporation does something bad, like destroying an ocean or institutionalizing accounting fraud, the logo will stand in satirists firing line. Do a search for "bp logo" or "enron logo" in Google Images, and you'll find Landor Associates' helios symbol drenched in oil or Paul Rand's slanted E giving you the middle finger. I wouldn't find it hard to believe that the images mocking Tony Hayward or Ken Lay are outnumbered by those that mock the logos of their respective corporation.

Because of the ongoing crisis in Fukushima, the management of Tokyo Electric Power Company, who owns the power plant, has faced criticism, although I am certainly not the person to judge whether or not they should be blaimed. If they should, their logo is an easy target for mockery.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, who also use the English abbrevation Tepco, has a logo made up of six circles, five smaller ones which form a T and a larger one which surrounds the two circles that make up the "stem" in the T.

For anyone with some time one their hands and a little creativity, it wouldn't be hard to turn it into a mushroom cloud. I have not yet found any satirical images with this logo. I don't know why, but perhaps the country has better things to do than mocking company logos at the moment.

I've understood that the Tepco logo was introduced in 1987 and that it was created by graphics professional Kazumasa Nagai (born 1929). It is a common sight on the streets of Tokyo. There's lots more to see and read about the corporate identity on the site of Nippon Design Center (in Japanese). (archive)

New logo: FortisBC

FortisBC is an electricity and natural gas company in British Columbia, Canada. Since 2007, FortisBC has also owned another gas company called Terasen Gas.

On February 23, it was announced that the companies which used the Terasen name would be brought in under the FortisBC brand. The FortisBC logo would also be redesigned.

The new logo will replace the old ones on March 1 and will then be rolled out across the companies.

The new FortisBC logo is clearly based on the old one, but the waves have moved from the O into a separate mark.
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New logo: Ausgrid

EnergyAustralia is an Australian electricity company owned by the state government of New South Wales. Recently, it sold off its retail business and its name. The electricity grid remained in state government control.

Yesterday, it was announced that EnergyAustralia would change its name to Ausgrid, with a new logo.

The EnergyAustralia name has been used since 1996.

The official renaming is scheduled for this March.
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