ROMPETROL: Romania's petrol, another energy flower

New: Rompetrol symbol

Launched: June, 2003 (subject to confirmation)

Story in brief:
This oil company is Romania's largest private company. Its identity change appears to be primarily a retail marketing initiative. (But there's no news release yet... we'll wait to see how it's explained.)

Credits:
CEO - Dinu Patriciu
Logo design - D'Arcy Romania agency (subject to confirmation)

First Impressions:
Good idea; questionable execution. The old R-pipe symbol was weak, and a bold upgrade would signal this company's vitality. But the new mark isn't clearly a design improvement.

Designers immediately noted BP's 2000 flower-star ("The perfect combination: BP symbol and Shell colors" said Marius Ursache on the WIREALITY brand-chat site). So it's derivative -- no big deal (BP doesn't retail in Romania). But is it good?

Compared to BP's explosively dynamic star, the Rompetrol symbol looks flat and static, essentially a donut, with vaguely atomic vibes. The old letterforms (though refined) don't relate to the symbol. The red-yellow colors (with dark blue type) can be challenging; a lot will ride on sign-and-architecture design quality. Perhaps the entire undertaking would benefit from a design firm's attention.