Promotion of petrol maps by map racks and advertsPromotion of petrol maps by map racks and advertsOil company map programmes were expensive to set up and run, and could only really be justified on four grounds:
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But it was not always like this. In the early years it was assumed that you could generate a real loyalty to a particular brand of petrol, and the map programme was an important part of this. However, for the promotion to work, you had to tell people that the maps were out there, and to make sure that they were seen as having a value - in excess of their modest cost, when not free. |
 Advert courtesy of Dave Leach |
It is quite rare for maps to be advertised directly to the public in this way; they were sometimes mentioned as part of a larger touring service, or at key moments in petrol marketing. Thus Esso ran an advert promoting its maps in Britain in 1952, at the time that branded motor spirit was replacing the Pool of the wartime and postwar austerity period. Point of sales materials were at least as important, especially where maps were sold and so considered at least to some extent as a profit centre.
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Both the map racks here date from the late 1950s. The Esso rack is a simple bent wire affair, with spaces for 13 regular maps (or phrase booklets) and one wider one. National's design was rigidly fixed for the 5 maps in its programme; the titles are painted onto the rack, as is the 1/- price. |
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Around 1960 Esso produced a die-cut card point of sales advert, "Get Your Esso Road Maps Now". The overall display measures just 200mm tall by 230mm wide, with the Esso oil drop man (also known as "Happy") approximately 15mm proud of the main sign. |
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Later, Esso just provided its service stations with a self-adhesive vinyl sign to fix to the wall above the display of maps. |
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National Benzole introduced its road maps in 1958, as a trend towards single brand petrol stations made maps an attractive marketing tool. The first leaflet shown here opened out to include a section of map and explanation of why National Benzole believed they were Britain's Finest Road Maps. One of the reasons was the "complete absence of heavy, black masses which so confuse built-up areas on most maps - such areas are sensibly shown in white". The leaflet also carried a panel explaining how maps are made and advised motorists to "buy them at the nearest National Benzole solus station".
National also advertised its maps in publications, with the example shown from 1961 just includes the touring maps. A second leaflet from around 1961 shows how National Benzole had expanded its range from the 5 available in the rack above to include a spiral bound atlas of 57 town plans, plus six sections of touring maps covering 25 glorious (sic) tours.
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Esso also printed a brochure promoting its Travel Aids in the mid 1950s. It was folded to the same size as one of the sectional maps of Britain, but opened out to an eight page booklet. The first two were devoted to "The FAMOUS ROAD MAP series * millions printed to meet the demand" which were (truthfully) "amazing value at only 6d [2½p] each". Subsequent pages advertised the Norfolk Broads and Rivers map, the four continental phrase books (German, Spanish, French and Italian) and the way to obtain foreign maps through the free Esso touring service. Essentially this required collecting a postcard from any Esso forecourt attendant, filling in details of the proposed trip, and then mailing it to Paris, who could provide maps and routes in Western Europe, North Africa, the USA and Canada. |
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Racks and leaflets were only of use if a customer had already entered the filling station, and failed completely in their purpose if the attendant collected payment from the driver in his car. It made more sense to advertise maps on the forecourt, sometimes on the wall or sometimes on a free-standing display unit. This National wall advert dates from 1981 and repeats the signpost used on that year's map covers. |
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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2003-6 |
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Relatively few petrol companies used leaflets to promote maps, but German Esso was another firm to do so. Before the war, whilst still using the Standard brand, it produced an A4 atlas booklet showing German features, with the maps prominently displayed on the rear cover (shown here). Much later it promoted Esso touring services in the 1950s and 1960s through a series of Reisebrevier booklets; the adverts shown here come from the 1966 edition and show both German and European maps.
