Is Marathon Petroleum dropping their STP partnership?

[97GeoPrizm]

Marathon is in the process of refreshing the look of their gas stations and the pumps are being rebranded as Endurance Fuels. These don’t have the STP logo on them and STP isn’t mentioned on the Marathon website about their new fuels.

I can’t find PR release confirming it, any one know anything? It’d be a shame if they have parted ways; the STP partnership is a big reason I usually go to Marathon (That, and the fact that 75% of my local stations are Marathon).

 

[rubberchicken]

Is it possible that its just a local franchise group that ended its relationship with Marathon ? Just a guess. That said, if its a complete rebrand, why bother with the name Endurance Fuels ? Its barely any different than Marathon in meaning, while the name Marathon has more "je ne sais pas" / prestige / recognition factor. It seems like a move by some pinhead marketing pukes who lack any understanding of the power and history behind the name "Marathon", a big step sideways and to the rear, that in the end will have done nothing but pay that VP's salary and bonus and a few million to signmakers. Maybe I should buy some Marathon stock so I can show up at the annual meeting just to say Endurance ? *** ? I mean, if this rebrand costs more to implement than a 6 pack of PBR, then what's the point ? I see no upside, and a fair bit of downside.

As for STP , they have been a non-factor since Richard Petty and Junior Johnson retired from Nascar. There has not been anything original out of STP since I saw my first magazine with Ms Playmate June '71. It jumped the shark before Jerald Ford started falling down stairs. If I was a Korean filter maker that stepped so low as to allow my product to wear the STP logo, I would apologize to all my friends, family, coworkers and the city of Seoul for my lack of good taste, and for bringing shame upon my ancestors. I would not even wipe my backside with an STP sticker for fear of elevating the prestige of the brand.

Aside from that, I have no opinion.

 

[Tdbo]

My WAG is that it probably has more to do with Marathon being bought by Conoco/Phillips.
I'd guess that "Endurance" is probably a way to phase out paying for STP branding.
However, it will probably be short lived. Branding will probably phase in to whatever Conoco is doing over time.

 

[JohnnyG]

Note: the stock you want is MPC, not MRO.

 

[y_p_w]

My WAG is that it probably has more to do with Marathon being bought by Conoco/Phillips.
I'd guess that "Endurance" is probably a way to phase out paying for STP branding.
However, it will probably be short lived. Branding will probably phase in to whatever Conoco is doing over time.

Marathon Oil was acquired by ConocoPhillips, and both didn't weren't involved in retail fuel. Marathon Oil split off into Marathon Petroleum, while ConocoPhillips separated from what's now Phillips 66. There are probably a bunch of complex issues with the licensing of trademarks. I heard it got really crazy with General Electric selling/spinning off divisions.

The best I can tell, Marathon Oil and ConocoPhillips are pretty much only oil exploration/trading companies. Valero Energy is a bit different in that they kept their refining assets but spun off retail gas stations.

 

[Tdbo]

Marathon Oil was acquired by ConocoPhillips, and both didn't weren't involved in retail fuel. Marathon Oil split off into Marathon Petroleum, while ConocoPhillips separated from what's now Phillips 66. There are probably a bunch of complex issues with the licensing of trademarks. I heard it got really crazy with General Electric selling/spinning off divisions.

The best I can tell, Marathon Oil and ConocoPhillips are pretty much only oil exploration/trading companies. Valero Energy is a bit different in that they kept their refining assets but spun off retail gas stations.

Not long after the sale of Marathon was announced, this was announced:

https://csnews.com/phillips-66-expands-brand-licensing-new-regions

They are looking to return to some regions that they abandoned 20-30+ years ago.
Could be coincidental, but timing may indicate otherwise.

 

[SC Maintenance]

My WAG is that it probably has more to do with Marathon being bought by Conoco/Phillips.
I'd guess that "Endurance" is probably a way to phase out paying for STP branding.
However, it will probably be short lived. Branding will probably phase in to whatever Conoco is doing over time.

No, Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) did not get bought by anyone. There one of the countries largest refiners. They control the Marathon retail brand.

Marathon oil - ticker MRO I think from memory ?? (upstream - actually finding oil and producing it out of the ground) - did get purchased by Conoco - however they have not anything to do with the refining or retail side of things and haven't for many years.

Marathon split into the two pieces years ago.

So this has nothing to do with Connoco Phillips - ticker COP.

Please do not ask me who is on second.

 

[MNgopher]

Good posts - I was thinking the same thing that someone has gotten the two Marathon companies confused. The retail and refining one still exists and is not the one that was bought by ConocoPhillips.

 

[wemay]

Just so long as it remains TT. That's almost all i use in my Malibu.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I looked it up and STP is literally owned by the same company that owns energizer batteries and Armor all.

Someone at Marathon got tired of paying royalties so its gone. Probably nothing other than the sticker on the pump has changed. I would be happy to buy gasoline from any of the major US refiners - Valero, Marathon, P66, Chevron, Exxon.

 

[y_p_w]

Not long after the sale of Marathon was announced, this was announced:

https://csnews.com/phillips-66-expands-brand-licensing-new-regions

They are looking to return to some regions that they abandoned 20-30+ years ago.
Could be coincidental, but timing may indicate otherwise.

It sounds like Phillip 66 and Marathon Petroleum are unrelated though.

 

[SC Maintenance]

It sounds like Phillip 66 and Marathon Petroleum are unrelated though.

Yes, I would say.

There was another thread here with all the cross branding of different retail stations, P66, 76 and Conoco "brands" all being owned by Phillips 66. Possibly with the expansion and buy outs by the big players - Sheetz, Circle K, etc - maybe they feel these brands would have some interest by independent owners?

 

[y_p_w]

I looked it up and STP is literally owned by the same company that owns energizer batteries and Armor all.

Someone at Marathon got tired of paying royalties so its gone. Probably nothing other than the sticker on the pump has changed. I would be happy to buy gasoline from any of the major US refiners - Valero, Marathon, P66, Chevron, Exxon.

It’s gone through a bunch of owners over the past few decades. I’m looking at the history and it’s been Studebaker-Packard, Esmark, Beatrice Foods, Union Carbide, Clorox, Armor All, and now Energizer Holdings. Some of the time in between it was private equity.

I’m pretty sure the Union Carbide brand went radioactive after the Bhopal disaster. They had consumer brands like Eveready/Energizer, Glad, Prestone, and Simoniz. Those were consolidated into First Brands to remove the Union Carbide name from the label, went to private equity, and then was sold to Clorox. But Eveready/Energizer went to Purina. But it all came full circle when Energizer Holdings obtained them.

 

[BHopkins]

I looked it up and STP is literally owned by the same company that owns energizer batteries and Armor all.

Someone at Marathon got tired of paying royalties so its gone. Probably nothing other than the sticker on the pump has changed. I would be happy to buy gasoline from any of the major US refiners - Valero, Marathon, P66, Chevron, Exxon.

It wouldn't surprise me if Marathon decided that there was little value any longer in associating the STP brand with their product. In my market area at least, STP commands very little, if any shelf space in auto parts stores, or in the automotive section at Walmart.

Back in the late '60's and through the early '70's a lot of people were big fans of the STP honey. It definitely didn't hurt to have guys like Mario Andretti and Richard Petty driving cars with big STP decals on them. But when they got hit with lawsuits for making claims without any scientific backing, it really hurt them. In fact, there are a few times recently, when someone has asked about STP, that I have questioned if they were still in business.

 

[SC Maintenance]

It wouldn't surprise me if Marathon decided that there was little value any longer in associating the STP brand with their product. In my market area at least, STP commands very little, if any shelf space in auto parts stores, or in the automotive section at Walmart.

Back in the late '60's and through the early '70's a lot of people were big fans of the STP honey. It definitely didn't hurt to have guys like Mario Andretti and Richard Petty driving cars with big STP decals on them. But when they got hit with lawsuits for making claims without any scientific backing, it really hurt them. In fact, there are a few times recently, when someone has asked about STP, that I have questioned if they were still in business.

I remember my dad pouring that sludge into stuff. I wonder what it was and how many engines it ruined.

 

[y_p_w]

I remember my dad pouring that sludge into stuff. I wonder what it was and how many engines it ruined.

It was basically just more VI improver, and antiwear/acid neutralizing additives. Probably from the era of “thicker is better”. It probably threw the balance of additives off compared to just using properly formulated motor oil and changing it regularly.

Aftermarket gasoline additive are less likely to upset the balance of anything.

The current company probably makes more in oil filters and fully formulated motor oils. Not sure if the motor oil additives are different these days.

 

[rubberchicken]

It was basically just more VI improver, and antiwear/acid neutralizing additives. Probably from the era of “thicker is better”. It probably threw the balance of additives off compared to just using properly formulated motor oil and changing it regularly.

Aftermarket gasoline additive are less likely to upset the balance of anything.

Funny you mention that- I had an UOA for my boat engine out to Blackstone and one item was highly elevated. They called me and said "do you use this type of octane booster ?". In fact, I did use that for one tank of gas, just one, a few tanks before the UOA. They told me that it throws some numbers off, and causes that single elevated metric. Blackstone was about to say "this sample appears contaminated, or you used something that is def not for engine oil" , but upon learning of the octane booster redid the numbers to adjust, and everything was fine. UOA both before and after was perfect.
Since then I only use that octane booster in beaters and hoopty's, just to get rid of it. And it appeared to have no effect on my boats 454's.

 

[y_p_w]

Funny you mention that- I had an UOA for my boat engine out to Blackstone and one item was highly elevated. They called me and said "do you use this type of octane booster ?". In fact, I did use that for one tank of gas, just one, a few tanks before the UOA. They told me that it throws some numbers off, and causes that single elevated metric. Blackstone was about to say "this sample appears contaminated, or you used something that is def not for engine oil" , but upon learning of the octane booster redid the numbers to adjust, and everything was fine. UOA both before and after was perfect.
Since then I only use that octane booster in beaters and hoopty's, just to get rid of it. And it appeared to have no effect on my boats 454's.

I was mostly thinking about the ability of gasoline to do its primary function.

Motor oil additives are carefully formulated to hit s specific thickness. Too much of this or that and there are issues. Like too much of certain antiwear additives can cause other issues such as poisoning catalytic converters. Or too much VI improver can result in sludge later when it breaks down.

 

[JohnnyG]

I looked it up and STP is literally owned by the same company that owns energizer batteries and Armor all.

Someone at Marathon got tired of paying royalties so its gone. Probably nothing other than the sticker on the pump has changed. I would be happy to buy gasoline from any of the major US refiners - Valero, Marathon, P66, Chevron, Exxon.

No, not really. When additive is delivered to the terminals, it's from a distinct source and branded accordingly. Although STP might be about as close to a generic additive as possible, it's still a separate product.

 

[y_p_w]

No, not really. When additive is delivered to the terminals, it's from a distinct source and branded accordingly. Although STP might be about as close to a generic additive as possible, it's still a separate product.

It's really not all that hard. There are a ton of off-the-shelf detergent packages that any company could acquire and then use as their own and claim it as their "brand". STP isn't listed anywhere in the EPA list of certified pump fuel additives. But whatever was being supplied to Marathon must have been on this list.

https://www3.epa.gov/otaq/fuels1/ffars/web-detrg.htm

And it gets pretty obvious that a lot of stuff is just marketing speak to give the impression that additives were developed in-house. Shell (which heavily markets their superior additives showing their chemists) isn't anywhere on the list, nor is Infineum. Not sure who their source is, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were BASF, Lubrizol, Afton, or even Chevron Oronite.