Greenpeace has launched a groundbreaking new competition which invites designers and industry experts, as well as members of the public, to redesign BP's logo to better reflect the company's operations abroad.
Greenpeace says the winning logo will be used in ‘innovative and confrontational' ways as part of an ongoing international campaign against the oil company. This morning, trained climbers scaled a balcony above the front entrance to BP's London HQ to hang a giant flag bearing a specially designed, oil soaked BP logo as an indication of what the winner might expect.
Today's action will increase the pressure on CEO Tony Hayward as he returns to the company's head office for the first time since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico a month ago.
The environmental group also placed an advert in The Guardian newspaper this morning to announce the competition, and overnight Greenpeace projected the words "YOUR LOGO HERE" on giant fuel storage tanks in the refinery which supplies BP in South East England.
BP is planning to extract oil from the tar sands of Canada, a process that releases even more carbon dioxide than drilling for regular oil. Today's advertisement accuses BP CEO Tony Hayward of cutting investment in clean energy in favour of dirty sources of oil like tar sands and deep sea wells.
The contest will run for six weeks, ending on Monday 28th June. The winning logo will feature throughout the campaign and Greenpeace says it will be used in several high profile, iconic locations as well as a further national newspaper advert.
Other prizes include a day of training on a Greenpeace speedboat, a design masterclass with top agency Airside, or one of 50 specially designed Greenpeace goody bags.
Three categories will be considered - professional designer, general public and under 16. The winner will be judged by a panel of experts from the design and marketing community whose identities will be revealed as the closing date approaches.
Commenting on the launch of the competition, John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK said:
"BP's famous green logo is there to distract us from what this company really stands for. This company has chosen to extract the last drops of oil from deep sea wells and the tar sands of Canada, instead of developing the clean technologies that can actually help beat climate change.
"That's why we're calling in the experts. We're hoping that the design community and the public will help us come up with a logo that will actually reflect BP's obsession with dirty oil.
"This is a competition with a difference, because we're planning to use the winning entry all over Britain in a high profile Greenpeace campaign that the company will find impossible to spin."
BP's existing logo was designed by Landor and features a green and yellow ‘helios' design. Further details of the competition as well as basic materials for designers and the public can be found at www.greenpeace.org.uk/behindthelogo
A full briefing about tar sands extraction can be found at www.greenpeace.org.uk/bptarsands
For more information on today's action, PDFs of the advert and images of the ‘YOUR LOGO HERE' projection please contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255
