BPCL - Riding the Waves of Change

As Amit sat on his ornate desk on the 4th floor of his Ballard Estate office, he peered
into the horizon and pondered on the way forward. Having joined Bharat
Petroleum Corporation Limited as a Senior Brand Manager 3 years ago, he had
envisaged taking BPCL’s social media game to the next level. He had realized after all
these years that it was easier said than done.

With an impending meeting with his boss, Mr .Iyer, a battle-hardened veteran of the
oil industry, Amit knew the time for change had come. If BPCL had to be put on the
lips of every Indian, as expected by the leadership, some drastic measures had to be
taken.

BPCL – An Overview

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) came into existence in January 1976
when Burmah -Shell was taken over by the Government of India. A Fortune Global 500
Company, BPCL is one of the premier integrated energy companies in India, engaged in
the refining of crude oil and marketing of petroleum products, with a significant
presence in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. BPCL
has recently attained the coveted Maharatna status, joining the elite club of companies
enjoying enhanced financial autonomy and other decision-making authorities.

BPCL’s refineries at Mumbai and Kochi, subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. in Assam
and joint venture Bina Refinery in Madhya Pradesh have a combined refining capacity of
over 30 MMTPA. BPCL’s subsidiary, Bharat PetroResources Ltd. has acquired
participating interests in 22 oil & gas blocks both in India and abroad.

Their products have a wide range of applications in industrial, transport, power and
agriculture sectors. BPCL has formed 18 joint venture companies covering refining, city
gas distribution, renewable energy, pipelines, gas, into-plane servicing, airports,
payment banks etc. to cater to the diverse requirements of its customers.

BPCL markets its products through a robust marketing and distribution network
comprising of 14,015 Retail Outlets, 4701 LPG distributorships, 645 Lubes
distributorships, 1014 SKO/LDO dealerships, and 128 POL storage locations, 50 LPG
Bottling Plants, 44 Aviation Service Stations, 3 Lube blending plants and 3 cross-
country pipelines as on March 2018.

During the year 2017-18, BPCL’s gross revenue from operations stood at Rs. 2, 77,162
Crores, net profit was a record Rs. 7,919 Crores, market sales were 41.21 MMT and
market share amongst public sector oil companies was 22.8%.
BPCL’s next 5-year strategic roadmap, which will entail investments of over Rs 1 Lakh
Crores, focuses on creating infrastructure, increasing customer centricity through
service models and enhanced fuel offerings, establishing a global footprint in
downstream retailing, developing renewable energy sources, intensifying inclusive
growth, reducing the carbon footprint etc. As a good corporate citizen, BPCL’s thrust is
primarily in the areas of education, water conservation, skill development, health,
community development, capacity building and employee volunteering. With
‘Energising Lives’ as its core purpose, BPCL’s vision is to be the most admired global
energy company leveraging talent and technology.

Social Media Landscape

BPCL is touching all lives in India through various life-changing initiatives. They have
consumer testimonials of how LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala
Yojana helped brighten their lives. However, considering the monthly data of active
users on various social media in India, BPCL followership is quite low.

BPCL has been active on Social Media and has been doing various Corporate, Products
and customer-centric campaigns. Currently, BPCL has more than 6.15 Lakhs
followers on the Corporate Facebook Page, 1.7 Lakhs followers on Twitter, 39,000
Followers on LinkedIn and 4,800 subscribers on YouTube.

BPCL is touching all the lives in India through various touch points. However,
considering the monthly active users on various social media in India, BPCL
followership is low.

After examining the social media content and deep introspection, Amit felt that the
corporate communication on social media from the company’s end was less vibrant
and engaging which is probably the reason for current and prospective not getting
attracted to the Facebook page and other important social media platforms like
Twitter, You Tube, and LinkedIn as per the leadership expectations.

Amit concluded that following challenges need to be addressed to energise

BPCL’s social media brand image:

1. Oil and Gas Industry in India - Challenges

Following the pressure from the government, PSUs like Indian Oil Corporation Limited
(IOCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and Oil India may buy back some of their
shares amounting to almost Rs. 10,000 Crores in order to help the GOI achieve its
disinvestment target for the FY 2018-19. Though these buybacks can continue until
March 2019, no grave effect is expected on BPCL for the next year. (Source: ET Bureau,
Financial Express).This needs to addressed if BPCL has to consolidate its leading
position.
 2.Changing Consumer Perception

The perception of oil and natural gas industry has also changed over generations and
with the increasing onslaught of global warming and environment calamities, the
positive sentiment for the petroleum industry is shrinking amongst the youngsters.
Though BPCL find a ubiquitous agreement that the industry is necessary for a
modern lifestyle, the risks outweigh the benefits in the minds of the younger
generation, who consider oil and gas as environmentally undesirable and are hopeful
of replacing them with cleaner, more efficient fuels as part of the natural progression
of modern society. They say India will become the youngest country by 2021, with
64% of its population in the working age group of 20-35, according to the 2013-14
Economic Survey, companies need to shape their strategies to remain relevant to
this section, called millennial or Generation Y
(https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ZxgufEOH9saYXk5RsmuhIP/The-rise-of-the-millennials.html). To capture the
millennials with conversations that connect with them has also been a challenge
BPCL’s marketing team. Amit felt that it is necessary to muse over how to rebrand
BPCL to signal its friendliness towards the environment and society and to touch
people’s lives beyond petroleum.

3.Competitors

Not all companies in the energy industry have been very keen to jump aboard the social
media and digital train.

However, on the global level, BPCL’s competitors like Royal Dutch Shell have been very
conscious about increasing their presence on social media. They have been successful
in their product development and design by using a variety of social media platforms
for crowdsourcing. They use their corporate website and their social media accounts
to not only engage but proudly display their success stories. The traffic on Shell’s
social media is consistently high across all the platforms.

On the Indian front, oil and gas companies have been conservative and cautious and
have not yet fully utilised the potential of a strong social media presence.

Even though Reliance Petroleum has always had a high volume of sales, they have been
lagging behind on the social media front, as can be seen with only 53 followers on their
Twitter handle.

Time for Turning the Tide

After examining the current state of content marketing and marketing initiatives at
BPCL, Amit has realised they have to dive deeper into the digital landscape in marketing for
the brand to thrive in the minds and hearts of the generations of these times viz.
Millennials and Generation Z. Millennials are about to be surpassed by Generation Z. “Gen
Z will comprise 32 percent of the global population of 7.7 billion in 2019, nudging ahead
of millennials, who will account for a 31.5 percent share, based on Bloomberg analysis of
United Nations data, and using 2000/2001 as the generational split”
.(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/gen-z-to-outnumber-millennials-within-a-year-demographic-trends).
As he prepares for his meeting, he knows he has to focus on the bigger picture to arrive
at the right strategic solutions. Attracting visitors and engaging them is harder in these
times and the BPCL team needs to look into different tools that can help them engage
with their consumers. Amit had heard about hacks, net ethnographies, facebook
Live and other such online events that could contribute to consumer attraction and
engagement and was thus strongly considering discussing these strategies and easy
hacks with his digital marketing agency.

As he reaches for his simmering coffee, he has the following questions looming over
him:
What content strategy should BPCL adopt for the coming year?

What should they focus on in the promotional strategy and how should they do it?

How to increase the customer engagement on their social media and other digital
platforms?

What creative strategy can make them capture the likes and followership of social
media users in India?

Only time will tell if he can answer these million dollar questions!!
 APPENDICES

Appendix 1: BPCL Social Media Presence

Exhibit 1: Facebook page of BPCL

Exhibit 2: Twitter page of BPCL

Appendix 2: Social Media Reach of BPCL’s Competitors

Global Competitors

Exhibit 3: Facebook Likes of International Oil and Gas companies

Exhibit 4: Twitter Followers of International Oil and Gas companies

Exhibit 5: YouTube Subscribers of International Oil and Gas companies

Exhibit 6: LinkedIn followers of International Oil and Gas companies

Indian Competitors

Exhibit 7: Facebook Likes of Indian Oil and Gas companies

Exhibit 8: Twitter Followers of Indian Oil and Gas companies

Exhibit 9: YouTube Subscribers of Indian Oil and Gas companies

Exhibit 10: LinkedIn Followers of Indian Oil and Gas companies

(All stats as on 01 December 2018)

Appendix 3: Snippets of BPCL Social Media Activity
On Twitter
On Facebook
On YouTube