Texaco. From a small endorsement to the brand that leads

How do you build a masterbrand strong enough to lead, without weakening the product brands that carry all the recognition? In European lubricants, Texaco had never been a brand in its own right. The product brands did the talking – Delo for heavy duty, Havoline for cars and motorcycles, HDAX for industrial – with the Texaco logo signing off in the corner. Then the business moved to a licensee model and that stopped working. The value now lay in the heritage and trust of the Texaco name and licensees needed to promote Texaco as a whole, with the ranges clearly beneath it. But Texaco had no identity of its own to lead with and each product brand looked entirely different.

We built a Texaco Lubricants identity from scratch, strong enough to stand alone and carry corporate and licensee marketing. At its heart is an ownable device drawn from the Texaco star, a mark synonymous with the brand since 1902, giving it a confident, contemporary look that holds across every format, from social posts to exhibition stands. Flexible messaging built around Texaco's core pillars lets it shift focus for different audiences, with photography that brings out its human side, the employees, ambassadors and customers behind the brand.

Then we built the structure to carry the product brands beneath it. Each holds equity far too valuable to lose and was instantly recognisable by its own colourway – Delo's blue, Havoline's red and yellow, HDAX's jade green – so they kept their identities while Texaco took the lead.