In May 1998, the Polish Council of Ministers decided to merge CPN SA and Petrochemia Płock SA into a single national crude oil corporation. On 7 September 1999, Polski Koncern Naftowy SA was established. The new corporation needed a new, strong brand not only to become the Company’s image on the domestic market but also to compete with international holdings on European markets. Its task was to open up completely new perspectives.
The new brand was supposed to bring to mind the dominant concepts of corporate strategy: global, crude oil, modern and national. It was decided that the brand should reflect the Company’s Polish origins, quality, strength and power, and that it should distinguish a fuel and petrochemical manufacturer.
As a result of brainstorming sessions, over 1,000 possible names were proposed. Brainstorming was followed by linguistic studies and association tests (in Polish, English and the most popular world languages), and opinion polls. In the end, ORLEN was considered to be the best name for the corporation. The name is a combination of the Polish word for eagle – ORZEŁ, which represents the national character of the Polish company (eagle being the national emblem of Poland), and for energy – ENERGIA, which signifies the strength, energy and global character of the company.
According to professor Jerzy Bralczyk, an advocate of the beauty of Polish language, ORLEN as a name sounds good and is short and easy to remember. Phonetically, it suggests energy and action. It invokes positive connotations with the eagle – a symbol of vital energy, omnipotence, power, faith, longevity, revival, immortality, grandeur, glory, ascent, aspirations and victory.
On 3 April 2000, the Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders adopted a resolution on ORLEN becoming the trade name of Polski Koncern Naftowy SA.
Another stage in the development of the corporate brand was to design a graphic symbol that would correspond to the trade name. A competition was organised, participated by the most distinguished Polish artists and graphic designers, winners of local and international competitions. The jury chose the design proposed by Professor Henryk Chyliński, teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and author, among others, of the symbols of the Teraz Polska foundation and Polish national radio station.
The design showed an eagle’s head In the author’s opinion, the eagle, as a symbol, has similar connotations in many cultures. It represents wisdom, strength and dignity. This means that the basic message of the company’s image will be clearly understood also outside Poland. Besides, the eagle is Poland’s emblem, thus the white and red colours of the logo emphasise the Polish identity of the company.
The starting point for developing the ORLEN brand logo was an analysis of the guidelines provided for in the corporate mission and vision, as well as of the environment in which the new brand was supposed to function. Since the company is a huge and continually expanding and diversifying business operator, the analysis also covered potential areas of application for the new brand. Another factor that was considered was the position of the new brand image against the images of competitive brands. This gave us specific requirements concerning the new logo. The next step was drafting designs, application tests and a number of analyses involving, among others, preferences, associations, ergonomics and memorability. The result of the entire process was a logo consisting of an eagle’s head – the symbol selected in the competition – and a rectangular field with the ORLEN name inside.
The image of the ORLEN brand was presented for the first time in 2000 at the occasion of the second issue of Company shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Our visual identity, apart from the name, graphic symbol of eagle’s head and the brand logo combining the name with the emblem, comprises also the company colours.
The colours of the logo were chosen based on the common perception of the typical colours of the fuel industry: silver, grey and graphite, and the national red and white colours. Those particular colours were chosen also following an analysis of the colours used by our competitors. We had to make sure that the selection of colours for ORLEN fuel station would not cause direct association with other existing fuel station networks. The results of an opinion poll conducted in 2000 proved that our choice was a success: respondents who were shown the image and colours of the new brand without being told which particular company they symbolised, suggested that they represented a refinery and petrochemical business or a new chain of fuel stations.
While creating the image of the ORLEN brand, we also focused on the selection of the right font (corporate typography) to be used in corporate documents and correspondence. It was assumed that corporate font should correspond to the company’s symbol and logo. The font used for the logo was Futura Bk Pl, which was specifically tailored for the purpose of the ORLEN brand in order to reflect the desired features of the brand. The use of capital letters emphasizes the stability and size of the entire organisation. The unornamented FUTURA type font, used in marketing correspondence, and the Arial font (available in any text editor) in documents and letters emphasize the modern character of the organisation.
Since it was created in 2000, the ORLEN brand has been the axis of corporate marketing, which enabled the company to shape its coherent image.
The ORLEN logo is visible both at Premium fuel stations and on motor oils, operating fuels, car lubricants and industrial lubricants as well as on a broad range of automotive chemicals offered by ORLEN Oil. All those products are manufactured using the latest technologies and dedicated to a large group of users, ranging from passenger car and truck drivers through farmers and construction companies using heavy construction equipment, motorcyclists and motorboat sailors to sea transport companies. The topmost quality of ORLEN Oil products is testified by a number of famous car producers and manufacturers of industrial equipment.
The image of ORLEN fuel stations was based on the standards defined in the corporate brand strategy. It was agreed that the image of all the stations in the new chain will comprise uniform and standardised elements. The idea was to create a coherent image and positive perception of the chain among customers. The opening of the first fuel station was preceded by design work and prototype and pilot programmes. The first ORLEN fuel station was opened on 10 November 2000 at the “Orle” housing estate in Jelenia Góra. The first in the chain, the station was meant to attract attention with its silver, red and graphite colours.
Today, the red and silver fuel stations have become a part of the local landscape all across Poland. In 2009, PKN ORLEN managed a network of 940 ORLEN stations in Poland. The eagle-branded stations represent our brand in Lithuania and Germany as well.
Before the ORLEN brand made its market debut in 2000, we had submitted the Company’s name, graphic symbol and logo as trademarks to the Polish Patent Office and obtained relevant protection certificates according to Polish and international legislation.
Currently, the ORLEN brand is a protected trademark on the EU market and in several countries across the world. Protection also covers the various forms of corporate logo, the image of the ORLEN fuel stations and the names and logos of products and services owned by PKN ORLEN SA.
In 2009, we had patent protection on more than 20 trademarks associated with the corporate the ORLEN brand, 20 advertising slogans developed for the purposes of the Company and over 130 product and service trademarks.
Over the last ten years, the brand image has also been created by the ORLEN flagship marketing communication project, the ORLEN Rally Team, which represents both the Company and the country in the most important rally events organised in Poland and internationally. The team is particularly known for its participation in the extremely difficult Dakar Rally.
Another project founded on the corporate brand is the ORLEN Athletics Team, which relies on the image of the contestants who succeeded during the 2009 World Championship in Athletics in Berlin. The Company also cooperates with the Polish Olympics Committee and has become the sponsor of Polish Olympic Representation.
The ORLEN brand is also associated with the ORLEN Gift of the Heart Foundation, which takes care of Family Children’s Homes and provides financial and material help to natural persons, non-governmental organisations and institutions acting in the area of health protection, recreation and rehabilitation of the disabled.
The assumption of the corporate monolithic visual identity system was to standardise labelling in the Capital Group companies, thus enabling respective companies to build their market position using the corporate image and associating themselves with the potential of the largest Corporation in Central Europe. This is also a clear and straightforward message to our customers that they deal with the same economic organisation. The ORLEN brand is used by companies that represent the Group’s core business and create added value by strengthening such competences of the corporate brand as: novelty, technological advancement, progress or innovativeness. Companies operating outside the Group’s core business and not supporting the corporate competences have the right to use the GRUPA ORLEN logo. In 2009, 28 companies used the ORLEN logo, under relevant license agreements, as an element of their name, and 7 other companies added the Grupa ORLEN name to their own logo.
VERVA is a next-generation brand of fuel enriched with a set of additives which ensure the dynamics and power of the engine, better acceleration, lower fuel consumption and, consequently, lower user costs. VERVA is the power that lets the driver feel the victory.
VERVA brand was displayed on Porsche 911 GT3 during the Porsche Supercup, held immediately before the Formula 1 events, where the VERVA Racing Team competes with teams from all over the world. Stop Cafe is a place to have a cup of good coffee and a tasty and healthy snack. The brand’s asset is its availability, which saves time for people on the road. The Stop Cafe brand, responding to the needs and lifestyles of current and potential customers, offers comfortable sitting space and quick service.
ORLEN is a brand that serves people in their daily life, according to the corporate motto: “Always there when you need us”. The opinion poll conducted in 2009 showed 99% prompted awareness and 72% spontaneous awareness of the ORLEN brand. The ORLEN brand won the “High Reputation Brand” title in an Independent Polish Brand Reputation Ranking, “PremiumBrand 2009”. Brand reputation is the main factor behind the decision to buy or use a specific product, thus the title won by ORLEN proves that the corporation is perceived as a reliable and responsible business partner.
ORLEN was also awarded the Superbrands Polska title, which, too, confirms its strong position on the domestic market. Ever since 2002 (for the 8th time in succession in 2009), ORLEN brand fuel stations have won the Golden European Trusted Brands Logo in a consumer survey conducted across Europe by Reader’s Digest. Consumers value highly the standard of services and the competitive and broad range of fuels and non-fuel products offered at our stations. All those awards granted by economists, business people and consumers prove the high quality of the ORLEN brand.
The new brand was quickly accepted by consumers and for the last ten years, it has contributed to the growth of the company’s goodwill. Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN SA has become one of the best known and most recognisable companies in Central Europe, with its brand supporting its strong position on the local market and expansion into neighbouring countries. In 2009, the ORLEN brand was declared, for the third time in succession, the most valuable domestic brand. Our corporate brand came first in an independent MARQA ranking, organised under the auspices of Rzeczpospolita daily, and was valued at PLN 3,648.3 mn, i.e. 27% more than in 2008.
Since 2000, ORLEN has also come on top of the “Top 100 companies” according to Rzeczpospolita daily and “Top 500 companies” according to Polityka weekly.
ORLEN Group's brands
