ExxonMobil Is Going to Miss Mobil Travel Guide

Mobil was once a brand that stood for absolute quality in all aspects of its operations, from its gas stations to PBS programming to guidebooks. Its graphic design, much of it by the noted firm Chermayeff & Geismar, is legendary. That work built upon the work of the late Eliot Noyes, one of the greats of corporate and industrial design.

So it was with great surprise that we read today that Mobil Travel Guide will now be Forbes Travel Guide. Smart move for Forbes, which gets a great franchise. But it's a big loss for Mobil, which loses free advertising.

Mobil Travel Guides will be re-branded as Forbes Travel Guides effective October 1. (Mobil's four and five-star designations for hotels and restaurants will become Forbes in 2010.)

Frankly, I don't understand why Exxon Mobil (XOM) ditched the guidebook brand, which associates driving on the road with positive things like good food and clean hotel rooms. It has been around since 1958, and people trust it. They spun it off a few years ago, and were getting free publicity from it.

Why was it important that Mobil do the guide? It's not the reason they think, namely that people driving on the road will like to use Mobil and think "Hey, I need to check into a Ritz-Carlton."

No, it's more subtle than that.

The association was valuable because it kept the name Mobil in front of rich, fancy folk who go to five star hotels and good restaurants. And remember, it is "fancy" people who buy and recommend stock purchases for others. It is "fancy" people who decide on environmental regulations. It is the "fancy" public television watching bureaucrats that make the government regulations. It was PR, and cheap PR at that. It even helped recruiting, burnishing the ExxonMobil name across the world.

The guide was about quality of life, and standards, and now that priceless goodwill has gone from the Mobil brand.

We can only assume the rationale for the sale. Some "clever" consultant comes in and says "What are we doing messing around with this? Why are we worried about toilet cleanliness and soup temperatures. We're an energy company."

Yes, you are an energy company. But you are a company of great brands too, and Mobil is one of the best brands. But brands that are one dimensional become boring. If it's all about gas, it's out of gas.

If this means that Exxon is further diminishing the Mobil brand at the expense of Exxon, that is a mistake. Both brands are great, but they mean different things. (Recently Mobil 1 has been emphasized as a racecar oil brand.)

ExxonMobil will do fine with or without the guide. But it is one more great business tradition lost.

Comments

[stink726:]

Interesting article; thanks.

Aug 06 04:24 PM