EMA Journal • PMAA Journal Fall 2018 • In The Spirit

Lewis Wall of Davenport Energy Details How the Spirit^® Brand is a Primary Option for Marketers

Note from the President: This is one in an occasional series o f articles by SpiritI^® writer, Ben Williams, exploring how the Spirit^® brand works for marketers. - Gerry Ramm

Petroleum marketers know there are many factors that are essential to a station’s long term success: supply, location, cleanliness, service, just to name a few. But there is one key aspect that can really set a business apart from its competitors: Identity. The look of a station — its appearance, design, and inviting atmosphere — can get a customer’s attention, giving them confidence that their experience will be efficient, clean and satisfying. The branding of a location is critical, yet there are multiple things to be considered before determining the right fit. More and more, the Spirit^® Brand is becoming the best option for stations across the country.

Tewis Wall, CEO of Davenport Energy, knows as well as anyone the value of identity. Operating out of Chatham, VA, Davenport has partnered with a wide variety of station owners across 4 states, helping them to build stations from the ground up or rebrand an existing site. Under Wall’s leadership, Davenport has developed a long association with the Spirit^® Brand, assisting 16 sites to convert to Spirit^® stations. “ Seven or eight years ago, we had some unbranded image programs that we had created internally, some very old, and we said, ‘Do we spend money to redevelop those or do we take a look at some other third party options?’ There was Sinclair, Crown, and World Fuel had one. But Spirit^® was a real good fit for us at that point. We could still buy from our suppliers and get the best price for unbranded products. And we just said, ‘Let’s take Spirit^®.’ We converted a lot of our unbranded sites and had an opportunity to grow with some new locations by using the Spirit^® brand.”

Through that early success, Wall became a proponent of the Spirit^® Brand, seeing its ability to provide flexible and affordable options for rebranding, identity, and station transformation as a valuable asset they can use. “ It’s a part of our toolbox. Getting a site branded with Spirit^® is much more economical. The cost of materials for the canopy, pumps and signs are all very affordable. There’s a good process involved with the companies that provide image materials for Spirit^®. It’s very easy to call the suppliers that Spirit^® has negotiated agreements with to get that material ordered and delivered. It’s much less expensive than a major brand.”

In some situations, the circumstances may dictate that Davenport link a potential site with a major brand — Exxon, Shell, BP — particularly if a large investment is needed to upgrade the location. However, the economics often make more sense for them to take on the Spirit^® Brand as their identity. Wall has found that when a potential dealer wants something that has the look of a national brand, but doesn’t want to be tied to someone else’s price point, the Spirit^® Brand fits really well. “They have the best of both worlds. They can have a nice looking national image, but as their supplier I can go and buy from 20 different unbranded suppliers. They’re going to be buying two, three, four cents below the branded cost. I mean, that’s the sales pitch. If you’re doing a million gallons a year, that’s 30 ,40 thousand dollars back into your cash flow. And, we’re also getting an ultra competitive credit card deal with Worldpay through Spirit^®.”

Another issue for petroleum marketers, naturally, is location. Oftentimes major brands will balk at rebranding a station if the site fails to meet their standards, which can range anywhere from management and appearance to business volume. Wall has found that Spirit^® is much more flexible — both economically and with their transformation options. “ If there’s a site that, say, doesn’t have the biggest location, maybe it’s got some age on it, but it’s got a good customer base, still reasonably good real estate, we can scale Spirit^® to that location. It may not be a site that an “A” company would brand. They’re not interested in a location that’s doing 30,000 gallons a month. But, in a rural market, a 30,000 gallon site is not one we would necessarily pass up. We’ve also had sites that were doing 2 million gallons a year and we could scale ‘up’ on the image. You can do gasoline canopies, diesel canopies, wraps on buildings. Pump graphics are scalable to any type of dispenser. The American theme, the eagle, the colors — red, white, and blue — are all positive things. Spirit^® is one of the easier things to brand. And it looks good.”

For Wall, Spirit^® has become a dependable, viable option they can utilize when building or rebranding a site, and it can be a key component to that station owner’s — and Davenport’s — success. “ It makes us more attractive as a supplier. Spirit^® gives us that option where we can buy unbranded fuels from our suppliers and feel like we’re giving the dealer the most competitive price that we can give him on a day-to-day basis.”

At Spirit^®, we are here to assist with all of your branding decisions. Contact Gerry Ramm at gramm@spiritpetroleum.com or 509.203.7357 to learn how your business can utilize the Spirit^® Brand.