Royal Dutch Shell, the number one company on Fortune’s Global 500 list, is threatening legal action against the Greenpeace network of environmental activists as the company forges ahead with plans to begin drilling for an estimated 90 billion barrels of Arctic oil in the next two decades.

Greenpeace, which is seeking to make the Arctic a global sanctuary from commercial and environmental exploitation, tweeted today, “As 1 million of you have signed up to #SavetheArctic, Shell threatens Greenpeace with legal action. http://act.gp/NGhcEg.”Continue reading...

The latest move in Greenpeace’s Save the Arctic campaign saw British eco-activists shutting down 74 of 119 Shell petrol stations in Edinburgh and London against the brand's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic, leading to the arrests of 24 campaigners on Monday, according to the Guardian.

The campaign is targeting Shell as prepares to begin drilling in the Arctic with Russian oil company Gazprom, a plan that U.S. activists rallied to sue and spoof campaigns to pop up. Protesters scaled the roofs of Shell stations and deployed emergency shut-off switches to stop petrol going to the pumps, removing a fuse that delays it being switched on again, while posting a message on Twitter that, "We're being careful not to destroy property. Even the carefully removed components will go back to Shell."

Greenpeace UK website elaborated, "It's part of the global week of action against Shell that kicked off with the occupation of the head office in the Hague – as well as our live TV channel, follow #tellshell on Twitter for all the latest from around the world."Continue reading...

Shell Oil Products U.S. has had a lot of success with its two-year-old Grocer Rewards program, which allows consumers to get discounts on gas depending on how much they spend at participating grocery stores. So now the Houston-based company is expanding on the idea with its new Fuel Rewards Network, according to Convenience Store Decisions.

“What we are aiming for with FRN is a program that is even bigger than just grocers—one that goes into all the other spin categories that the typical family has and allows them to earn fuel rewards based on those other purchases,” said Dan Little, Shell’s North America Fuels and Forecourt Marketing Manager, according to CSD. “Those fuel rewards can be redeemed at all Shell stations, not just the 8,000 Shell units that have a grocery partner.”

Consumers simply get a FRN loyalty card at a Shell station and then register it online, where they can find a list of participating retailers and also download a mobile app to make their phone into a loyalty card.Continue reading...

PBS NewsHour is about to lose $2 million from its budget. The New York Times reports that Chevron is going to pull its sponsorship of the show, which has lasted for four years.

"We constantly review which media we use to reach our target audience given our yearly budget and specific goals," Brent Tippen, a Chevron spokesman, told the Times. "We hope that we will be able to partner with them again at some point in the future."

The San Francisco Chronicle notes that the relationship had gotten some bad publicity in September when PBS ombudsman Michael Getler wrote about an online piece critiquing Chevron's sponsorship video (from its "We Agree" campaign, at top) that had the company claiming that every single last penny of its profits “went into bringing profits to the world.”

The Chronicle reports that Chevron claims that bad PR didn’t have anything to do with the ending of its sponsorship.

NewsHour approached a foundation earlier in the year for sponsorship dollars but was rebuffed, the Times reports. Still, Jim Lehrer, one of the longtime anchors of the show who now only helms it one night a week since stepping down as anchor in May, is confident the show will come up with the cash by year’s end, the paper reports.

At the end of October, Chevron announced that its quarterly earnings more than doubled with the company’s profit rising to $7.8 billion, according to Reuters.

A year after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up (along with its reputation), BP clearly has a long way to go to rebuild trust.

As might be expected, the oil giant's executives were confronted by protesters (one smeared with a black, oil-like substance) and heated accusations at the company's first annual general meeting since the Gulf of Mexico disaster.Continue reading...

The news that the producers behind the blockbuster Twilight movie franchise are developing a movie about the Deepwater Horizon disaster — Michael Sheen gets our vote for former CEO Tony Howard — indicates that BP won't shake the oil spill from its image for quite some time — if ever.

While it's too early to say if BP will be getting The Social Network-like treatment by Hollywood, the embattled oil giant's new CEO says there's one movie its annus horribilis (2010) doesn't resemble — The Black Swan.

Robert Dudley, who replaced Howard as BP's CEO, has been on the speaking circuit, is trying to restore the battered brand as he makes new deals and alliances to shore up its fortunes.

As consumers and businesses alike reel at the recent spike in gas prices, particularly in the U.S. and Canada, oil industry executives are off on a junket at the very same time, attending CERAweek in Houston — where Dudley made his Black Swan reference.Continue reading...

Forget new products, social-media marketing and sustainability initiatives – the biggest thing on the plate of many brands today may be how to cope with spiking oil prices.

Brandmeisters know better than most that nothing can play mind and pocketbook games with the American consumer quite as devastatingly as gasoline-price hikes. In 2008, a brief movement up through the $4-a-gallon level stalled auto sales and then led into the global economic meltdown.

“Higher gas prices in general will depress sales no matter what, because people will be worse off,” Sean McAlinden, chief economist of the Center for Automotive Research, told brandchannel.

“And in terms of people collectively feeling happy or unhappy, or measurements of how the American people feel about whether the country is on the right track or wrong track — the biggest measurements of those things are made at the gas pump.”Continue reading...

When your brand's industry has a major PR problem, you either hide your head in the sand, or get out there and make a statement. 

Chevron's strategy is pretty clear. The company today rolls out its new "We Agree" campaign, which also has its own website and incorporates statements one might view as provocative for an oil company.

"Oil companies should put their profits to good use," proclaims one print ad. "It's time oil companies get behind the development of renewable energy," states another. "Oil companies should support the communities they're a part of," reads a third. All are answered with the words WE AGREE in bold red type.

The TV spots (above and after the jump) echo that mea culpa. Or is it?Continue reading...