[simplyself]

Is there any use by advertising and branding by IOC/BPC/HP? Does the advertisement and branding of fuel divert a sizeable chunk of customers from one company/one brand to other? Is the money well spent?

What exactly is the difference between regular fuel and the premium one?

OMCs justify selling only premium fuel saying they are incurring losses on normal fuel. How does that happen when they charge for the addition of additives to normal fuel which means they are not adding additives worth the premium they charge.

[simplyself]

Advertisement money spent by oil marketing companies is waste of money. I dont think it makes a difference to majority of customers from which company do they buy fuel. Till date I havent found any difference between a premium fuel and the normal one in terms of performance in real world.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by simplyself

Is there any use by advertising and branding by IOC/BPC/HP? Does the advertisement and branding of fuel divert a sizeable chunk of customers from one company/one brand to other? Is the money well spent?

Apparently, advertising of premium fuels does make a difference. You'd be amazed at the psychological effect of premium fuel.

What exactly is the difference between regular fuel and the premium one?

Except for certain additives, not much else. For the record, I prefer regular fuel for all my cars. Only the Vtec may see the occasional use of high octane petrol before a long spirited highway drive. But thats pretty rare.

How does that happen when they charge for the addition of additives to normal fuel which means they are not adding additives worth the premium they charge.

Profit 101

I dont think it makes a difference to majority of customers from which company do they buy fuel.

Sure does to a sizeable base. I fill up only from IOC pumps. And I know of many a BHPian / relative / friend who stick to one brand of fuel.

[ph03n!x]

Rather than sticking to one brand - I stick to one of the few fuel stations that I have come trust to be good in terms of quality, quantity and service. I sense variances in engine noise / smoke / mileage if I fill anywhere else - the Ads do not make any impact on me - it is the dealer!

[esteem_lover]

Branding makes people loyal to one brand. One can hardly tell the difference between brands, but still swear by one particular brand. Come to think of it, even salt is branded these days with none other than TATA themselves getting into it.

[simplyself]

I think the premium fuel novelty wears off pretty quickly. I used Speed for my bike in 2003 when it was launched by BP but soon discovered it does nothing to my bike and burn a hole however small in my pocket. I remember IOC releasing press notes which claimed the higher octane premium petrol is playing havoc with new generation engines. The photostats of the clippings were displayed at some IOC fuel stations. That was the time when BP introduced "Speed" and IOC was yet to introduce "xtramile". Then the same IOC launched its own brand.

Also, I dont want my car to develop any horns or other vestiges. So I stick to normal fuel and pray it doesnt develop any such organs when I am forced to go for premium fuel.

It is what I want to say : Premuim fuel is nothing but a marketing hoax and the recent decision to sell only premium fuel in cities is taking the game too far. It may also be called daylight robbery. Even towns and villages suffered from this and even now the normal fuel is not available at all the times.

I am more concerned about the pump than the OMC which operates the pump. In other words, I have to trust a dealer and not the company itself.

As per this branding business is concerned, I do not think there is any difference in the fuel dispensed by one company or the other.

[gowda79]

Actually speaking there is no need of using a Premium petrol until and unless the vehicle you are driving is being used for any sort of racing or being driven for high speeds.

Due to the use of High Octane fuel the vehicle gives a better performance and better acceleration.

The other advantages of the premium petrol is less pollution and maintain the engine in good condition by the additives present in it.

I suggest to you use normal fuel and i use nomal IOC fuel for all my cars.

The advantages for the advertisements make a large difference for the companies improvement, why do you think the brands look for the top rated players and actors to be brand ambassador for there products.

[fastcar]

hi
In Bangalore you donot have options in good and decent bunks because they have only premium fuels and donot stock ordinary fuel at all

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by simplyself

What exactly is the difference between regular fuel and the premium one?

I have found out that there is no difference. Our Baleno does not have a smoother engine or other things told by these oil companies. We once decided that hgh octane fuel will be going in for more than 2 months in E-III Baleno, but found no difference.

Originally Posted by simplyself

OMCs justify selling only premium fuel saying they are incurring losses on normal fuel. How does that happen when they charge for the addition of additives to normal fuel which means they are not adding additives worth the premium they charge.

The same point was made by me in other thread called " Fuel Price thread ". They are acutally selling the normal fuel in the format of Premium fuel and they manage to charge a good premium on us. At least in my city there is no noticable difference between normal and premium feul.

[mithun]

Here in Kerala, you'll get free India Today if you fill XtraPremium for Rs.500.

And, IMO XtraPremium seems to be the most popular one among the competitors.

[bblost]

I saw an advt from an oil company that advises people to not waste oil.
It will get over soon, if you save it and use lesser it will last a little longer.

BUT it still is getting over.

Do they even have an idea on what we will do next.
Cars are still being sold; whats the future for them 10 years down the road.

[thiyags22]

I could understand pvt cos spending their crores on marketing & branding since they entered the market late and had to garner market share. I fail to understand why the state run cos (IOC, BP, HP) have to spend the same kind of money for this exercise. Also, Reliance has shut down it's ops and Shell also is not selling as before (based on the crowd I see in the shell bunks) BUT these state run cos continue to spend their money.

No ads/branding exercise had made me stick to one particular co. I prefer to go to a bunk that I perceive as giving correct quality/quantity. I used to go to Reliance regularly not because of their advts. but word of mouth of their quality.

I have used premium petrol only once in my life (today) and that too when my tank was almost dry and the bunk fellow said he has only premium petrol.

Thiyags